Deduction: The Prequel, the Shinobi Way pt1
by Redsinky
Summary: Naruto might not be a genius, a prodigy or even a Nara, but, he's an Uzumaki and he'll learn. If the deduction is an essential part of becoming a ninja, well, at least his adventures would never be boring. There will be pain and there will be healing and as long as he smiled, he just might have a fulfilling life.
1. Mister Left and Mister Right

**1: Mister Left and Mister Right**

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 _ **Full Summary:**_

 _There was always those bits of advice that stuck to a person, whether it becomes a central part in forming their identity or it just sits in the background, resonating, echoing, but never does it disappear._

 _"A ninja should always observe and be alert of his surroundings. Be subtle about it. You don't want anyone of the opposite side to notice and leave you in the shadows again."_

 _Naruto might not be a genius, a prodigy or even a Nara, but, he's an Uzumaki and he'll learn._

 _If the deduction is an essential part of becoming a ninja, well, at least his adventures would never be boring. There will be pain and there will be healing and as long as he smiled, he just might have a fulfilling life._

A small figure sat on a mattress, eyes gazing at the larger, taller figures arguing above with their fingers pointing towards the one on the mattress. Minutes later, only one person remained; a short, busty woman with blonde hair and grey eyes and a scar running vertically on her right eye. The eyes were cold as she glared with no restraints at the small figure sitting innocently on the mattress. Pointing at the figure, the woman shouted at him, the receiver blinking incomprehensively at her. With a frustrated yell, the woman marched out of the room the door slamming behind her.

The sudden noise sprung tears in the small figure, his muffled sobs unheard past the walls of the room; he did not understand why the tall figures started patronising him, their shouts loud enough to send his ears ringing and their faces glaring in disgust.

Loud banging from his door snapped him from his sobs and he bit down on the sheet. Shifting, he turned his gaze at the small crack in the wall, the only view he would get to the world outside.

Over the following months he learnt a valuable lesson, though, it had taken a while for it to sink in with him still having a bit of trouble comprehending sentences spouting from other people's mouths. Their expressions were enough for him to find a highly plausible conclusion, not that he knew of those words, but, it would be described once he acquired a higher vocabulary.

The small child was starved for attention like every child his age but, for some reason, it was never given. They ignored the child with a determined will, his wails unheard, his questions ignored and his tantrums were disciplined.

The actions of the adults and the matron had given the children the incentive to follow in their examples, it was a cruel act from the children as they were still innocent and only following the adults'.

Currently, the children of the orphanage were let out for playtime, the adults watching over them. They, however, ignored the small figure sprinting towards the woods with children on his heels yelling at him.

The child was still very young compared to the other children that were let out, as those his age was kept in careful supervision as viruses his age was easier to catch and harder to cure, not that he knew, he was preoccupied with running away from the mean older children.

It was minutes later that his still developing motor skills kicked in, his feet had tangled itself mid-step and he tripped on air. Rolling with the motion with the breath knocked out of him he lay curled under the root of a tree hollow.

Breathing deeply, the child whimpered in pain, his tears falling on the dry leaves. The clouds had gathered some time ago and the tears of the sky began pelting the earth. The soft pitter-patter of water droplets landed on the small figure, their tears coming together as confused, pained eyes gazed at the grey sky.

Once the rain had let up the small figure began his trek back towards the illuminating orphanage door. Knocking hesitantly the small child waited for the door to open and stared distressed at the matron's sneer. His arm was grabbed harshly in a firm grip, his whimpers bringing a tilt of the lady's lip upwards.

Thrown bodily towards his room, the matron glared disdainfully at the child, her words reverberating from the walls even after she departed with a slam of the door. He was refused food and was only given a bowl of water once a day for a two weeks.

" _Demon."_

" _Devil-spawn!"_

 _The adults did not bother to hide their disgust as the child walked among them, some, if not most threw trash at him and purposefully tripped him. He did not retaliate, the last time he did, it had resulted in a brutal discipline as 'they' liked to call it._

" _Get away from my children!"_

" _You're not needed here."_

 _The eyes were cold, a burning fury filled with cold resentment fuelled just by his very existence. The children were worse, he wanted to blame and he had, for a while when he had not understood. Eyes with burning hatred at their negative emotions only made his situation worse._

There were times when the negativity was too much for his young shoulders and he had run, away from their gazes, away from their words and away from the environment; just away in general.

It was in one of his many runs that he had come across a foliage and it was this foliage that led him to his anchor only metres away from falling to his inevitable destruction.

The child had wriggled further under the tree growth; his pursuers had been persistent after one of the children had run to the adults when he accidently stumbled the child, crying and wailing at his scraped knees. They had demanded an apology as they advanced towards him, the child staring vindictively at him and once he did they started shouting and one of the adults had hit him across the chin and kicked him away. He had run then, away from them, their cruel laughter licking his heels like poison ivy.

Senses on high alert, their footsteps, louder and heavier than a child's as they shouted false concerns. He had learnt that they had no concern for his being beside disciplining him and scurried deeper in the undergrowth as the noises got closer.

A hand appeared on the corner of his bush and he dug desperately behind him, wanting, wishing for a shield against another session. His fingers had latched on a stick or a root and he tried to pull it, it was better than nothing, it might distract them.

The child wasn't expecting the immediate fall or the sudden darkness that surrounded him and it took a while for him to scream in fright.

Landing harshly on the ground, the figure blinked the spots away and rolled from the impact. Coughing, he reigned in his breathing and attempted to stand, tripped and landed in mud from the recent bout of rain.

Shakily, the child ventured away from the hollow of the tree and only minutes later found a river containing marine animals he had seen in books when he could glimpse them. Peering over the edge he swallowed his first look at his appearance; the adults never let him be near any reflective surfaces.

A pair of eyes of all shades of blue gazed back swirling like the sky reflected in the water; he could not determine the shade of his hair as it was completely matted in mud and his face caked in it. Trembling hands cupped the clear water, the mud washing away, staining his skin a darker complexion. Bringing the water to his face he rubbed the mud away enough not to be completely clean and did the same to his hair, it became a very light shade of brown.

He kneeled transfixed at his appearance and had just begun to completely clean himself away when a rustle from behind had him jumping in the river. He turned with trepidation, eyes guarded and lips in a stubborn line.

Two tall figures of dark hair with equally dark eyes and different hairstyles gazed back at the child in bemusement. The child had never seen figures like them before nor the attire did they wear as if it was normal. They both wore a mesh undershirt with sleeves in varying length between them, black shirts, dark green bulky vests, black headbands with silver metal and an insignia of their village; black pants for the one on the left and dull brown on the one on the right, the child decided to name them that.

Mister Left had black ankle high sandals of sorts and black bandages up to his knees. He had identical pockets on either side of his legs, a tanto of sorts across his back and a pouched belt. Mister Right had silky hair tied in a low pony, the tail short from the band.

Mister Right had white bandages halfway up his calf, navy ankle sandals and the same accessories as the Mister Right. He had thick spiky hair, the shade sucking in all the light from the surrounding area and softer eyes than his companion.

The three stood frozen fixing each other with cautious gaze and silence was broken only when the child sneezed.

Eyes widening, Mister Right reacted first and pulled him from the water apologising too fast for the child to comprehend. Mister Left rolled his eyes and nudged his companion away, and pulled a blanket from a hidden bag the child did not see and draped it across his shoulders.

The two figures had crouched to be at a somewhat respectable height, even though they were still indescribably towering over the shivering figure.

Mister Right nudged Mister Left, "I think he needs to clean up."

"Hn."

"Hn." He replied, rolling his eyes.

A flicker of the eyes and a grunt.

"Hn." Mister Right turned his attention at his only confused audience. "Don't mind grouchy here, I was wondering if you'd want to clean up the mud?"

Blinking and still confused, the child shook his head negatively.

"Hn."

"Well, there's not much I can do." Mister Right began to stand, "Come on grouchy; let's spar."

Mister Left didn't bother to reply but followed, leaving behind the small child. Watching them walk away, the small figure followed a few metres behind.

Their eyes flickered behind them at their lost puppy, their conversations consisted mostly with varying degrees of grunts and the occasional sentences from Mister Left.

Upon arriving at well-hidden, well-secluded clearing the two tall figures separated, Mister Left sending a look at the small figure following them. The child followed the gaze to his left and looked back as Mister Right shook his head and nodded.

"Hn." He said.

Not knowing how to translate that, the child walked to the indicated spot and sat, snuggling in the warm blanket.

That day, the child learnt what spar meant and the destructive force they threw at each other. He never interrupted, didn't utter a sound and remained where he was in case they attacked him. He had no idea what they were, only that their headband had something to do with it and their hands blurred so fast that he could not make out what it was that they did with their fingers.

Deciding to just sit back and watch the barely visible spar, they were going too fast for his age and experience.

Three days later he came back covered in mud and the two taller figures continued their spars as he watched from the sidelines, occasionally capturing the words thrown at each other.

 **Chapter 2 Overview**

 _ **Bonds and Chains**_

 _The Orphanage may have disliked his existence, their eyes digging holes in his soul, but, at least he had Mister Left, Mister Right and the kind Jiji to protect further deterioration of his very being. His introduction to Chakra, the vulnerability of a leader and maybe the compassion of the innocence and naivety of a child was enough to hold himself together._


	2. Bonds and Chains

Blue eyes peered around the corner of the wall, his eyes watching the gathering, some had anger, sorrow and fury etched on their faces whilst others cheered. Children of all ages wore masks of a snarling animal and kimonos as they waved their toys around. He watched silently wanting to join in and was about to step towards the gathering when a hand clamped upon his shoulder.

Jumping in fright, the child turned his head in trepidation, the expression gazing back had him tearing up. The hit had come hard and fast, the fury had him trying to struggle his way out of the grip. A cough from behind the person holding the child had his capture snarling in anger at the person before his face lax and anger took over. The man shoved the child to the matron, hands in pockets and grumbled away.

The child turned grateful eyes towards the matron, but the face made his expression fall and he was hauled away into his room, the door closing with a defining slam.

" _You don't belong here!"_

His sobs were unheard above the ruckus of celebration.

Eventually, the child's eyes began to be too heavy to keep open, his body curling protectively. In the darkness, the door of his room opened spilling light in the darkness of space and closed.

Silently, a figure of formidable aura stepped through, his gaze snapping to the figure curled under the sheets. A tilt of lips, the shadow crept forward, a bundle in his hands. Placing the bundle slightly under the bed, the figure bent forward, caressed the hair and kissed his forehead. Pulling back, his eyes widened at the glowing blue pair gazing at him intently.

"It was not my intention to wake you." The figure whispered softly, a hand still patting the hair.

The small figure blinked, shifting his position and pushed off the mattress, leaning his back against the wall, knees bent towards him and his arms wrapping around his legs.

Chuckling, the larger figure walked towards one wall and flicked the light on, flooding the room with a dull, yellow light. The figure frowned slightly but turned towards the one on the mattress when the child made a sound.

"Pardon?"

Blues eyes widening, a blush rose to his cheeks and ducked his head on his knees. "You're wearing that symbol on your head."

Face lighting up, the figure pulled his hat off, gazing at the white flaps and the black insignia. "You came across it before?"

Hesitantly the small figure nodded. "I see it on some buildings. I saw it on two people with an accessory."

The formidable figure sat next to the child, his back leaning against the wall. "That's a headband on those people you saw."

The child tilted his head.

His lips tilted up, "They're a ninja."

Blinking multiple times, he turned his gaze towards his door, "Wha'cha ninja?"

"What's a ninja," The man corrected, the child blushed. "They are protectors."

"Pro-proc-protectors?" The child stuttered in his pronunciation.

Chuckling the man laid his hand on the spiky hair. "Hmm, yes. They defend against bad things, keep the peace and protect innocents."

The child bit the inside of his cheek.

The pair remained sitting in silence, the man occasionally telling stories to the child until the small figure's eyes began to close.

"Be my Jiji?" a child asked demurely.

The man smiled gently, "Of course Naruto." Tucking the small child in bed.

Blue eyes widened at the name, it was the first time he heard a name other than what the others called him. "M'name?"

"My name," Jiji corrected. "Why wouldn't it be? Uzumaki Naruto is your name."

Somehow still retaining the energy to blush even through the child's tiredness, Naruto tried to hide his head under the sheets.

The child heard soft laughter and peeked at the corner of his eyes at the old man genuinely enjoying his company.

"Goodnight Naruto." The old man with the white hat whispered.

"Night' Jiji."

Turning the lights, the man easily made his way over to the door, eyes sadden by memories unseen by the other occupants.

"Happy Birthday, Naruto."

The following morning the child discovered the barely hidden bundle under his bed, his eyes lighting up in pure, innocent joy. It was his first, ever, gift.

A week later Naruto accidently on purpose stumbled across the pair of ninjas -as he had learned their position from his Jiji- face and hair covered in mud, a large object hugged closely by his arms.

Blue eyes stared pointedly at the double pair of onyx. "Ninja." He stated.

Mister Left raised a brow whilst Mister Right nodded.

"Busy?" The child asked shyly, eyes never wavering.

"Hn." _Not now._

Mister Right shrugged his shoulders, "Not really." Dark eyes peering at the object in the child's embrace. "What's that you got there?"

"Hn." _Really?_

Mister Right glared half-heartedly at Mister Left. "I was curious!"

Mister Left didn't seem to answer and turned his gaze to the child that had met with them multiple times in the past.

The child raised the object above him and towards the two, "Help, please."

The three stared at each other silently and simultaneously began to trek the familiar path towards the clearing.

"…I never got your name, kid." Mister Right stated, his gaze intently at the crossed legged child pouring over the seventh different book in seven months.

The child's head snapped up, all three having varying degrees of surprise on their faces.

Naruto struggled to pronounce his name and only ended up repeating the first syllables of his name.

Mister Right ruffled his mud-matted hair, "Na-chan it is!" He frowned, "You really need to stop bathing in mud, though."

"Hn." Mister Left commented. _It makes you look like a street urchin._

The now dubbed Na-chan glared half-heartedly at him.

Mister Right burst out laughing. "Oh!" He gasped. "Hahaha-he understood you!"

The new revelation had Mister Left turning to Naruto with a new perspective in his eyes.

"We should reward him!" Mister Right exclaimed, his head nodding.

"Hn." _It's not that unreachable._

Naruto grunted in response. _To me it is!_

The two stared at him in silence.

"Hn." _I guess you deserve it._

The child smiled brightly.

Mister Right was laughing at the stunned expression slipping through the blank mask of his friend.

"Okay, so we read through that _chakra_ ," Mister Right emphasised, "we'll help you apply it."

Mister Left twitched slightly. _You'll kill him._

Mister Right whirled to face him, "It can't be that dangerous."

Mister Left didn't reply. _Look at his age!_

Huffing, Mister Right turned back to Na-chan, "Fi~ne." He moaned. "We'll start with finding your _chakra_ and to control it, harnessing it to your will."

"Hn." _Do you really need to always empathise that term?_

"Na-chan is still just a kid! He needs help in pronunciation." Mister Right argued.

No response. _Figure it out yourself, ba~ka._

"Point taken." Agreed Mister Right.

A crinkle at the corner of the left eye. _We're still just children too._

Mister Right sighed loudly, sliding his hands down his face and waving a hand, "Technicalities," he muttered.

Clapping his hand, Mister Right smiled slightly at the child following the conversation. "Ignore the prodigy, he doesn't understand the value of hard work."

A glare was the response. _You're just jealous that I'm ahead in our spars._

Mister Right ignored it, "This is what you need to do…"

A few months later, during the breaks between their missions Naruto pressed his back against the trunk of the tree, relaxed and crossed legged with his eyes closed as he practised the exercises with his chakra.

The child was under the blissful shade of the tree some several metres above the ground on a thick, steady branch. The wind danced with his hair, the leaves hiding his form from searching eyes from the ground. Up high, Naruto could barely hear the voices that tormented him and he smiled slightly. The sky was always welcoming to him, the wind his best friend.

In the centre edge of the busy village, a tall building of three floors with red-roof-tiles in the office of the topmost floor sat an elderly man behind a wide-oaken desk clean of papers, a pipe in hand and his eyes watching the images pass in a crystal ball until it paused on the intended target.

A wrinkled face smiled, tilted his head and disappeared with a swirl of leaves.

"Jiji." Was the greeting from the child, eyes unopened but the smile was enough.

"Naruto," the man greeted back genuinely. He settled across the relaxed child and observed the small figure before him, his frown appearing as he did so.

The child's hair had grown to his shoulders, the length taming the wild spikes only slightly, the image giving the man an eerie emotion as a phantom image overlapped the one before him. A few healing bruises had begun to disappear, but was still visible to the concerned man and the deformed limbs had snapped back in place while he was overtaken by the phantom image.

A long, brown tunic, up to the child's knees was cinched at the waist with a knotted cloth and cream shorts of calf length was wrinkled. Dirt, mud, leaves and sticks and holes decorated the clothes and barefoot finished the image of the child.

"Where are your shoes?" He asked as gently as he could, not wanting the child to feel his anger.

Opening an eye, Naruto could feel his chakra steering gently inside his core, dancing in a fast pace as if attacking the walls but never succeeding, the wind caressed his hair as a nudge.

"I couldn't find it."

Head snapping at the lone blue gaze, the man pursed his lips. "It was stolen from you?"

There was no answer, but, it was answer enough.

The man sighed, his shoulder sagging with the weights of his regrets. They sat together in silence; one relaxed as he listened to his chakra and the wind, the other in contemplative resignation and building anger.

"I'm so sorry."

The child didn't reply, there was no need as the man before him had uttered it enough and he had replied the exact same thing until it was a unanimous agreement between them.

"You could teach me something."

The man smiled sadly, "Naruto, you know I can't-"

"Advice in the ninja ways?" Naruto interrupted, eager to learn from the man.

Jiji sighed in happy exasperation and ruffled the child's hair.

"A ninja should always observe and be alert of his surroundings. Be subtle about it. You don't want anyone of the opposite side to notice and leave you in the shadows again."

Blue eyes looked intently at the other unflinching at the shadows behind the kind man's eyes.

"Why?"

The man smiled, the wrinkles rising and deepening.

"If they do find out, what happens when your mission is to rescue the kidnapped? What would happen if they found you suspicious? What happens if you're onto them but they know it too? What would happen then?"

The child tilted his head, the wind whispering in his ears. "I don't know."

A grim expression was the child's answer.

"The kidnapped would not see another day. The suspicious would be executed or be used to start a war and the person that you're suspicious of would make a conscious effort in changing the plan until it is too late. It could begin another war. It could be even worse, they could be hurt very badly and never be denied the peace that comes with death."

"Death is peace?" Naruto asked.

The shadows behind the man grew larger until the original shade of the eyes was darker.

"One could say it," Jiji stated. "Life is always full of trials and tribulations; it is dependent on the person if they would survive every encounter and become stronger or never overcome and are unable to continue, that is the essence of life."

"Some have it harder than others," wise eyes gazing at the child, "and are unable to overcome it. If they do, there are two paths one must choose."

Naruto leant forward impatiently, "What are they?"

The child watched as the elderly man's face deepened, not in happiness as it was moments ago, but of something deeper, personal and painful. The man gradually aged before, every wrinkle, every breath, and every movement as if it was torture.

"One of pain and satisfaction… the other of pain and happiness." The man breathed, his chest twinging painfully.

Naruto scrunched his brows together, his lips pouting as his young mental process was unable to comprehend even after all the reading and lessons from Mister Left and Right.

The child hesitated, "They're-they're…" the blonde shook his head and restarted. "Aren't they the same?"

He didn't want to ask; the pain it brought to his Jiji stabbed at him, more-so than the negativity of the civilians.

The face before him muted his questions and the child pursed his lips.

"Naruto, I-"

The small figure crawled over the man, wrapped his small arms around the large shoulders that held the weight of his people and snuggled his chubby face to the crook of the elderly man's neck. "S'okay Jiji, you did your best."

The child never saw the couple of tears that escaped the seasoned face, he did, however, feel the man's own, old arms wrapping at the small child's waist, hugging him close.

Several minutes later all traces of tears were gone, the small child on the man's lap playing with the wide-brimmed, and white flapped, red-tipped, coned hat. They remained in the position, relaxed and peaceful until the man saw movement at the corner of his eyes.

"Hey, Jiji?" Naruto tipped his head back to stare up at the man.

The elder man chuckled at the cute picture, "Hm?"

"If I observe things, will I be able to stop bad things from happening?" Blue eyes blinking innocently at him.

A smile spread his features, "Certainly."

He traced the village symbol on the child's arm. "By observing, one may be able to have the ability to deduce the situation and come to a relative conclusion."

Naruto pouted, arms crossed.

"Jiji~" he whined, "too big words."

Laughing he ruffled the blonde tufts and released his hold the child.

"I must go now Naruto."

"Kay' Jiji!" the child's hand waving.

Smiling, his hat now in his hand he hugged the boy one last time and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Naruto watched the leaves dance, eyes gleaming. "That's so cool." He paused, eyes gazing and unseeing at a view, "I want to learn!" he exclaimed exuberantly.


	3. Birthday Boy

Blue eyes stared blatantly at the two ninjas shifting under his scrutiny.

"Ah, Na-chan?" Mister Right inquired.

"Hm?" Na-chan replied absent-mindedly. Face and hair matted in mud, no matter after all the effort the two tried to clean him.

They were back at the clearing, his new book in the hands of Mister Left.

"What are you doing?"

"Jiji said that observing will help me stop bad things from happening."

Mister Left raised a brow. _Are we doing something bad?_

"I figured if I start observing other people I'd be able to deduce and whatever else Jiji mentioned."

Mister Right tilted his head in question, "And~" he drawled, "who is Jiji?"

"Hn." _The man with the red-tipped coned hat._

The two choked in varying degrees.

Mister Left was the first to recover. "Hn." _Did he have the same symbols as us?_

Naruto nodded, not seeing the shocked, paling faces of the ninjas.

"That's the Hokage!" exclaimed Mister Right.

The yell snapped Naruto out from his trance. Tilting his head, his eyes conveyed the question.

When the two didn't respond, still shocked to silence Naruto nodded.

"Jiji's Jiji." The child stated, a simple fact in his mind, titles not withholding.

Mister Right sighed loudly, rubbing his eyes at the revelation. If what the child said was true, then he and his companion would be in trouble if they traumatised the kid.

"Ri~ght." They had their work cut out for them.

"Hn." _What did you find from your…observations?_

Mister Right snapped his head to his fellow ninja, an incredulous on his face.

In response, Mister Left stared blankly at him.

The child bit his lip, his young mind trying to work furiously. "Ano~," brows scrunching together he pointed to the target, "Mister Right," he began, ignoring the laughing eyes behind the stoic mask of Mister Left. "Mister Right," he began again, "has just finished running. On his way, he knocked into a branch, has a slight bruising on the tendons… I think." The child paused.

"He ran from the direction of the Eastern gate, has just finished eating dango in a rush." Tilting his head, he chewed in his thoughts, "Perhaps, he encountered something he didn't want to see and made a hasty retreat?" He questioned towards the very shocked and silent duo once again.

Sputtering, Mister Right opened and close his mouth, eyes examining himself as if to see the evidence himself. The two gave up and turned to the mud-matted-haired child.

"Hn." Mister Right stated. _I don't see it._

"Am I right?"

The two ninjas narrowed their eyes.

Laughing nervously, the child shifted his feet.

"There is a residue of sweat trailing at the back of his neck; his breathing only slightly hitching when he had arrived. There are new uneven, ragged marks on his right pant leg, judging from the lack of faded colours around the edges. The stick or whatever had surprised him, judging from the slight, if minuscule limp he had acquired upon arriving and forced himself to balance the weight on both ankles…that's just a guess." He paused, turning his head upwards. "The direction he came from was the way his spike at the back had swept eastwards and the trail of sweat at the back had left marks going in that direction. He also came from that direction." He shrugged.

"There is a leftover part of the dango at the left corner of his mouth, his hand that held the stick left a fading imprint; the liquid substance from it staining a bit of the skin. The rushing part was from his running and tripping, the unfinished piece at the corner that he could have licked," his blue flocked Mister Right's hand, "same goes for the hand. Your face, when you came here, had the phantom image of a scare but not of an enemy ninja…" he tilted his head at the gobsmacked expression. "Am I right?"

Mister Right nodded.

"Hn." _So you have a sprain._

Spinning, Mister Right chuckled nervously, glaring half-heartedly at the innocent child and ignoring the holes boring into his skull. A pair of hands forcefully sat him down, a sudden bite of lip had it ripping the skinning, Mister Left's eye twitched. Taking the warning, Mister Right sat down, carefully navigating his injured ankle to rest appropriately.

Mister Left turned to face the child, blue eyes staring intently back. The taller figure gave a slight tilt of his head and Naruto pursed his lips.

"Mister Left,"

Mister Right snorted, a twitch from Mister Left had him burst in laughter.

Ignoring them, Naruto continued, "has a recent injury on the front of his left calf, possibly a slash from a blade of sorts. He has been recently writing, eto~ his report?" Naruto nodded to himself. "That would also indicate that he has returned from a mission recently, later than Mister Right. He has a lack of sleep and is parched…that's all I got." He finished despondently.

A pat on his shoulder had him looking across to Mister Right, "Don't worry Na-chan, you definitely surprised _Mister Left~_ " he chortled, jumping slightly from the _friendly_ killer intent of his companion.

The taller figure nodded towards the smaller and Naruto turned to look at him.

"There is a darkening patch on the black bandage, the bleeding from the size of its length is indicated from the start of the darkening tip to the end, disregarding the drip of the blood. Mister Left-"

Mister Right snickered, a kick to the ribs had him glaring at the assailant.

"-has a slight ink stain on his dominant hand, possibly from shaking that would indicate the lack of sleep, the darkening circles under his eyes reassuring the statement. Dry lips indicate a slight dehydration, chapped means you've bean somewhere that had strong winds and a strong scent of sweat from the wind. Your clothes are wrinkled and crumpled a possibility with repeated movements of jumping or travelling? Your recent mission was indicated from your written report as it is customary that it would be done upon arriving…wait, I think, I've got that wrong-"

"Hn." _Wait, you got it right._

The child jumped, "Really?"

A small nod and Naruto hugged Mister Left.

They settled down several minutes later at Na-chan's deduction skills, Mister Right brimming in excitement, Mister Left in a more subdued manner but interested nonetheless.

"So Mister Left and Mister Right?" Mister Right mocked after their lesson.

Mister Left hit his companion's ribs lightly. _Really, now of all things?_

Naruto blushed, "You arrived like that when we first met."

Mister Right raised a brow. _You must know who we are at least._

"I don't know who you are, to be honest." He blurted.

Twin stares. _Doesn't the appearance ring any bells?_

"I'm serious!"

They grunted simultaneously. _Really now?_

"Well, why don't you introduce yourselves!" he shouted.

Mister Right twitched. _I don't believe you._

"I really don't know okay!" the child yelled, his arms thrown up in the air.

Mister Right grinned, standing up with the help of Mister Left and leaning slightly.

"I'm Shisui," he thumbed to his chest and then jabbed at the other ninja's shoulder, "the grump's Itachi," bowing together, "and we're from the Uchiha clan!" he exclaimed proudly.

When they didn't get a response they straightened their position and observed in bafflement at the child's blank stare.

"I don't know anything about an Uchiha," Naruto replied to their silent question. Pointing a finger at Shisui he stated, "You're still Mister Right," turned his finger to the one name Itachi, "and Mister Left." With that, he said his thanks and stalked off all the while mumbling about delusional ninjas and made up names.

The two ninjas watched the small figure become smaller until he was out sight and turned to look at each other.

"Hn." _He really doesn't know._

Itachi stared at his friend. _You still need a check-up._

Shisui stared right back. _You're not leaving me alone._

"Hn." _On who's authority?_

A twitch of Shisui's brow. _You're injured too!_

A gesture. _Technicalities._

"That's my line!"

Small fingers shoved the plain wood back into position patting in place and sitting on it to be sure. Getting up, he made his way to the lone crack to peek at the sky, nodded to himself and stood on his tip-toes, turning the know and making his way outside his room. Scanning the area, the small figure made his way through the halls of the orphanage, senses on high alert and snuck into the bathroom.

He didn't stay long enough to soak, only long enough to be squeaky clean to his satisfaction and ventured back to his room, sprinting with his heart in his throat when the patter of feet came closer and shut his door as fast and as soft as possible. Rubbing his wet hair Naruto snuggled into the mattress, his eyes peering through the crack to watch the colours of the sky change.

The matron forgot to feed him, again.

The child peered around the wall he hid behind, glimpsing at the celebrating gathering. He knew it was the same time like last year, and he made sure to check unsavoury companions heading towards his direction. He leant his head on the wood, listening to their words and heart thumping manically in his chest.

" _It's time of year again." A person stated a man from the sounds of it._

" _Good riddance."_

 _A slam of, perhaps a cup?_

" _The demon spawn is still here!" A drunk man yelled_

 _There was a chorus of agreement around them, one yelling atop one another yells of agreement all round._

" _We could give the demon more discipline?" a man suggested excitedly._

Eyes widening, the child began to sneak away from them, weaving his way through the crowd of children.

" _-the Hokage?" one warned trepidation lacing in his tone._

" _The council has hounded our venerable leader all day today."_

The child made a turn to a corner, the shadows of the buildings casting dark shadows in the alley.

" _The Uchiha clan is also busy." Another mentioned._

" _Perfect." One purred in pleasure._

 _There was a clattering of furniture and cups and feet, the shuffling of feet turning to the door._

" _Let's go catch ourselves a demon."_

 _Their laughter licked at the small child's heals._

The foliage wasn't too far away but it would mean for the child to cross the open street. He turned on his left, running in the alleys, trying to make as little noise as possible in his haste and skidded to a stop at a dead end.

Blue eyes widened, his shoulders stiffened considerably. He turned his head, the wind whistled lowly, cold and biting onto his skin; it wasn't his friend now. The moonlight increased the shadows cast upon the walls of the buildings around him. A shadow from the other end began to move, their bobbling heads honing in, he could hear their calls, could already fear the phantom pains, their eyes burning his body.

He scurried to the longest, darkest shadow, restraining the amount of breath he would take per minute and wait apprehensively. If they found him…

He wrapped his arms around himself to get rid of the cold blowing in, the silence of the night deafening as phantom yells and shouts overrode his senses.

" _Demon." The smile was twisted._

" _Hold'im down!"_

" _Disgusting FREAK!"_

He scurried further back, slowly, step by step and bumped into something. Eyes widening he looked up and met the dark gaze of fury.

"Konnichiwa, Demon."

Opening his mouth the scream, a sweaty palm covered it, a handkerchief covering his lower face. Desperately trying to breathe, he inhaled the weird smell, his vision blurry as the shadows at the end of the alleyway grey larger.

"Let's have fun, shall we?" The person smiled, deranged. "After all," the figure leant down to whisper beside his ear, "it's your birthday," he blew, "and every birthday boy should always receive a special…" the figure in the shadow bit his ear drawing blood, "…gift."

The child's blue eyes glazed over.

The figure in darkness smirked in victory, eyes lost in his grief, in his loss, anger, fury, and in revenge.

"That's right, there's nothing you can do. You will remain wide awake, watching every little gift I give you and you watch yourself accept it, like a gracious, well-mannered boy." He laughed high into the sky.

"A soul in a puppet."

"A doll to my pleasure."

The man's handsome face seen by the light of the moon twisted in pleasure.

"A servant to me."

The laughter rang in the air, over the loud celebrations and mingling with others as they searched for the child.

Blue eyes blank, dull, lifeless, stared at the wall across. Familiar, unwanted, the blood sprayed, painted every inch of the four walls around the small child. Door, no door; a latch, no latch; scraps and scrapes, pleasure and pain. The wall was the child's life, memories blurred and fuzzy, his chakra head-butting at the edges, but, it was not enough. It was never enough. The man wanted more, never satisfied, never content, more, more. More.

It was NEVER Enough!

How long had it taken to paint the walls his colour?

How long did it take for it to permanently stain the rooms?

How long has he been with the man?

It could have been years, he wouldn't know. He was never let to see his reflection and the one time the child did, he only glimpsed at deep, impossibly deep blue eyes, aged, resigned, but not broken.

He had never slept, eyes always awake, brain always active and body, always malleable.

Voyeurism.

He had learnt the word when some of the man's clients were talkative.

Children his age, over and younger was dragged to the room for him to watch, he wouldn't know if they were his age, there was never a mirror to check.

The door, no door became visible and the man with the handsome face came forth; impeccable cream kimono, ruffles of the finest silk and embroidery of the rich decorated every inch of the man. Handsome, rich, confident.

A woman's dream.

He wished he could glare, the glare he had perfected with the help of his ninja friends but, the man knew his well when the atmosphere changed. Calm, dark eyes gazed back, a smirk dancing on his lips. Seductive, if one didn't know the man.

"I wish I could show to the world," the man whispered, voice husky to his ear, "that, I have tamed a demon to my bidding." The man gripped the smaller figure's chin and lifted up harshly. The breath of mint would have been intoxicating, pleasurable even if one wasn't in the smaller figure's position.

"Imagine," the nose nuzzled his neck, "all the riches and all the pleasure, all because they are afraid of you!" he bit the neck harshly, drawing blood. The man sucked on it, moaning in ecstasy, and the smaller figure lets him, unable to move but to watch and to feel.

The rich man stood, dark eyes the same ones he had seen on his capture.

"But don't worry," he began, "you won't just be a trophy." A smile crawled up to his lips, lighting up his face and making anyone besides the other occupant, swoon.

"You'll watch as you destroy continents, crush helpless, innocent humans under your foot and eat innocent children!"

"And you know what!?" The man laughed.

"You. Will. Be. Watching. A first-person seat even!"

The man gripped the small figure's hair harshly.

"There will be nothing you can do about it." He declared, the smile becoming twisted as his eyes.

Blood spilt.

He was in a new room, it was white in the beginning.

It was now maroon.

The worse part?

It wasn't his.

The evidence had cleared out hours ago, indicated by the dried blood around the room. The man had been right. He had watched his body move out of his own violation, he felt the life substance spill, heard every scream and continued to paint the room.

The only good thing out of it was that he didn't eat anyone.

That would have broken him.

The room became his next resident.

The small figure never asked himself, 'how long' again.

He was moved into another, new room sometime after the first incident. White walls.

He hadn't eaten in a while.

Dread pooled in his stomach as his chakra reared harshly inside him. Demanding to be let out, to punish the person hurting their host.

Door, no door became visible and the rich man wasn't the first to enter.

Crib, after crib, was pushed through the door, until an estimated of-

"Thirty." The rich man finally entered. "It should satisfy you enough." And left, watching behind a screen -he wouldn't know.

His chakra reared painfully inside his core, finally getting a reaction.

It was silent in the room for a while, the small figure fighting for control of his body and knowing it was inevitable.

The silence was broken by a singular cry and only moments later others followed. Their high-pitched screams irritated his senses.

It was a cacophony of noises, his chakra also screaming from his core; his mind was screaming; the air was screaming whipping at his skin and the mea-no! The babie-meat-No!

The room was filled with screams and the small figure began to move.

Hunger. His body was so hungry. Why hadn't they fed him?

Glazed blue scanned the room.

The white was irritating, the screams were annoying and his body needed substance. The figure's head glanced at the closest crib.

Food.

It was only a few metres, just a couple of steps. He was hungry. His body needed food, he was only human. Babies were human, so that meant more nutrients. Nutrients are needed in the body and what better holders than humans themselves? Especially, the figure licked his lips, especially ones that were fed through the womb. That was a lot of nutrients.

Glazed blue stared down at the first crib, the morsel inside had halted its annoying cries, its wide blue eyes of a new-born staring curiously back at him. A strong will in babies must mean a lot of nutrients.

He stared, a smile almost filled with love and the morsel began to coo. Gently, the small figure lifted the living meat, red flush around its body. Good. Flush meant blood, and blood meant iron. He had chosen very well for his first meal.

Small, wrinkly hands reached up towards the figure above it all the while cooing and the soft smile sent its way.

The figure opened his mouth, descended to the offered limb and his mouth closed around it.


	4. My Name is Uzumaki Naruto

The screams were drowned by a much louder sound. It had built since the beginning and once it had gotten a reaction it was only natural for the rest to follow.

The room was flooded in red and it wasn't blood. It reached past the walls and consumed everything. The following explosion didn't reach the sky, no, the impact became wide instead of tall and anything living for miles all round dissipated, evaporated, the sound, the light seen all over the continents.

It erased civilisations, races and cracked the earth only a few hundred kilometres away from the core. Mountains were made, tsunamis were created and earthquakes shook awake. It was felt all around. Some saw the evaporation of life, others saw the creation but all felt the fear of tremors and the screams of their neighbours.

October tenth, would be remembered by all as the death and the creation of life, the fear of the power, the hatred pouring out of it and they would remember and they would visit the origin and it would never be found by anyone but the small figure, that is, if he wanted to remember at all.

The babies had lost their voices from the explosion.

Thirty babies had lost their voices and impaired their hearing. Thirty, innocent babies were stripped of normalcy because he wasn't strong enough to fight. Hadn't had the will to fight!

He placed the child he held gently back into its crib and fell to his knees.

Thirty.

The explosion and the red would have killed; there were no survivors of that destruction besides them.

It was just like the man had said, what the man had predicted exactly, yet, he didn't eat the babies. He had fought, resisted and called upon his power that had struggled the war within himself and won. The results were catastrophic.

The small figure began to sob, shoulders shaking at the enormity of it all and wrapped his arms around his knees, hugging himself close.

He was worse than a murderer.

Worse than a rapist.

Worse still than a mass murderer rapist.

He had erased life forms. Erased everything of someone's.

He wanted to die.

" _One could say it," Jiji stated. "Life is always full of trials and tribulations; it is dependent on the person if they would survive every encounter and become stronger or never overcome and are unable to continue, that is the essence of life."_

" _Some have it harder than others," wise eyes gazing at the child, "and are unable to overcome it. If they do, there are two paths one must choose."_

 _Naruto leant forward impatiently, "What are they?"_

 _The child watched as the elderly man's face deepened, not in happiness as it was moments ago, but of something deeper, personal and painful. The man gradually aged before, every wrinkle, every breath and every movement as if it was torture._

" _One of pain and satisfaction… the other of pain and happiness." The man breathed, his chest twinging painfully._

 _The child hesitated, "They're-they're…" the blonde shook his head and restarted. "Aren't they the same?"_

The figure laughed towards the sky, laughed so hard that the tears that had dried had streamed down his face and he couldn't tell if he was sobbing or laughing.

" _What's a ninja," The man corrected, the child blushed. "They are protectors."_

" _Pro-proc-protectors?" The child stuttered in his pronunciation._

 _Chuckling the man laid his hand on the spiky hair. "Hmm, yes. They defend against bad things, keep the peace and protect innocents."_

 _The child bit the inside of his cheek._

Numbly, the figure turned his gaze towards the cribs, the silence a torture to his soul.

 _Huffing, Mister Right turned back to Na-chan, "Fi~ne." He moaned. "We'll start with finding your chakra and to control it; to harness it to your will."_

Control. Harness. Chakra.

 _The child was under the blissful shade of the tree some several metres above the ground on a thick, steady branch. The wind danced with his hair, the leaves hiding his form from searching eyes from the ground. Up high, Naruto could barely hear the voices that tormented him and he smiled slightly. The sky was always welcoming to him, the wind his best friend._

The figure turned his head skywards, the room having reduced to nothing, the ceiling was gone and his clear, blue eyes surrendered to the twinkling sky of the night. He waited for punishment, wholly accepting everything, wanting to repay for his sins and the sky darkened, the clouds gathered, the stars blinked out and kneeling, the figure waited, blue eyes closed.

Had it remained opened, the figure would have seen a faint outline of chakra, the colour of pure sprung gold; weaving, interweaving, connecting and building until a golden dome stood over the thirty-one occupants.

The sky cried that night.

The figure waited the whole night for his punishment.

The dome disappeared in a sprinkle of golden sun rays as the clouds broke and the sun woke.

Blue eyes blinked open, watching shocked at the golden sprinkles of the day and the sky, the infinite, blue sky, clear of any obstacles had forgiven him with a welcome home embrace.

Too shaken, too wrought and had just been pulled from the downwards spiral of darkness, the figure barely managed to smile, but trembling lips tilted up, and trembling legs stood.

" _Why wouldn't it be? Uzumaki Naruto is your name."_


	5. Healing Hands of Another World

For several months, Naruto ventured into the wilderness with thirty babies under his care and it had taken a while for the blonde to stop panicking.

Blue eyes glanced at his surroundings, having just finished checking his surroundings and putting the babies to sleep. The food was hard to come by as the explosion had destroyed any familiar life forms and he met with the newer beings that walk on the barren lands.

The figure settled under a tree, the perfect position for him to keep an eye on his surroundings. Crossing his legs, he leant against the trunk and felt his chakra stirring inside; a trickle was all that was needed for him to form some sort of connection to the ground –a perimeter that surrounded them. The blonde sighed once he had adjusted the connection and tipped his head to the sky, his eyes closed, the wind softly dancing with his hair.

 _"What are you?"_

 _They were a group of creatures standing in front of him. He had stumbled upon what seemed to be the beginning of civilisation._

 _They were taller than him, well, most of them were. They had somewhat matured faces, though never the harshness of the adults of his earlier past, it was kinder, softer and compassionate. Thick curls upon their head, large feet with a patch of fur, pointy ears and a robust figure. Just what were they?_

 _The group stared at him, some had recognition in their eyes._

 _The figure had never met these beings before, not until the present._

 _When he began to traverse further into the wilderness they followed; when he stopped, they stopped. He had tried losing them but they always managed to find their way back to him. He had sighed then, a tired, weary breath escaping his lips and smiled. They smiled back, their faces brightening and he didn't know why._

 _The creatures didn't speak, and at first didn't do anything until he showed them. He had discovered some time later that they did not know how to speak but, they knew how to listen and he taught them whatever he knew -which wasn't much- and they learnt together. They learnt to cultivate the earth, wandering in the wilds, hunting, growing, protecting from the scary new beings he stumbled across._

 _Their first encounter with the newer creatures had them fighting for their lives, both sides had lost equal amounts of life. After that, the creatures that remained with him had taught themselves to fight and to protect from other, unsavoury creatures that roamed the barren lands._

 _There was one particular battle, one where the blonde had struggled to finish off his opponent and was finally able to kill it when he had slipped under the belly of the beast and slashed the soft hide, the black blood –he had gotten used to the peculiarities of the beasts- spilling onto him._

 _Once the battle was done, some lives were lost during it, the blonde had taken the offered damp cloth to clean off the blood from his person and sat around the fire, sighing all the while._

 _"Wargs." He had uttered._

 _The creatures that had travelled with him snapped their heads to face him, their faces dawning of something the figure couldn't explain._

 _He didn't know why he said that never heard it before but he was so tired, and he was a mess and those Wargs were painful to deal with._

 _It was in the following battle with the beasts that the creatures that were with him finally spoke._

 _"WARGS!" they yelled in unison and the blonde stared at them as they massacred the beasts with renewed vigour._

 _There were no losses then._

 _He also found out that in all their previous battle against the wargs, the beasts hadn't made a sound until the creatures had shouted their new name. The sound from the wargs was terrifying._

The creatures hadn't spoken anything besides the name after that; they kept repeating it as if it some new candy one must try, their faces brightening whenever they looked in his direction.

A few weeks later the group had stumbled across the large crack of the earth, but they didn't see the crack, all they saw was a large body of water; blue, clean and fresh.

Letting the creatures take care of the babies, the blonde made his way towards the water, the first reflective surface large enough for him to see his age.

The first he saw were his eyes, still the same from his earlier past; blue of every shade whirled inside, but there was something new to his gaze that wasn't there the last he saw. No, his gaze had shadows so dark, so deep, and so well-hidden that if he hadn't been seeing his eyes and familiar with it, he would have dismissed the depth of his blue. The shadows gave off a peculiar picture to it, giving an unnatural glow to it frightening him at first.

It definitely wasn't the soft, innocent blue he had seen before.

Bright, sunshine locks he called hair had grown longer –there was no mud to hide the shade of it. The length having reached his upper back had tamed his spikes greatly giving it a thicker texture to it, his hair deadly straight and the fringe that had grown had been swept to the side framing his face.

He still had the same roundness of his cheeks, though slighter thinner than the last; the whisker marks adorning his face had faded to barely noticeable and his lips chapped from the strong wind they had encountered a couple of weeks ago.

His height was only slightly taller than the last time; his limbs had lost a great quantity of fat from the starvation, all in all, he looked similar; the faded whisker marks being the greatest and most prominent physical features -for as long as he could remember- had taken a while to get used to barely seeing it. It gave his appearance a newer look, but still familiar and that would mean that he hadn't stayed with a dead man for long. A year or two at most, but it had felt like an eternity.

Around his body, a make-shift dress of sorts was made. It was cream at first, but after all the battles and the wilderness did to it, his dress of sorts had been stained an inky black with random patches of brown, green and maroon. The dress began wrapped once around his waist, the length reaching his upper thigh; wrapped twice on his hip, the length reaching just above his knees; once again on his waist until it reached the top-most of his chest and with the corner of the fabric, threw it over his left shoulder, wrapped it all the way until it reached the front again and began to wrap it around himself in a downwards spiral until it reached the back of his waist. Taking the corners, he tore one side off and began tying it, the leftover fabric creating a tail, going passed his knees and stopping half-way down his calves.

It wasn't restricting, though it had taken a while for Naruto to get used to the style of clothing, the creatures following his examples straight after.

The shoes, on the other hand, wasn't made until much later when his feet had begun to bleed and swell. The creatures had panicked, not understanding why his feet were like that and theirs wasn't. It took a while, but taking the rewards from the battle, the creatures had banded together to create his sandals. He didn't know how they did it, he was running a fever from the infection on his feet and was delirious half the time and asleep the rest.

The skeleton of the sandals was made from the teeth of the wargs and so was the base, a smooth flat surface. The first layer was covered with the hide of the creatures –it was sturdy, strong, soft, balanced and black. The second layer was the skin, a creamy gold shade, adding to the strength and durability of it.

The third layer was the thickest, it was the skeleton of the binding design that would keep the sandals from falling. It started with a single, flexible pillar between his big toe and the one beside it, stretching to reach the side of the big toe only a quarter-way length of his foot. That done, a thick, soft bone –flexible and durable- stretched in length from the just below the knuckles of his toes to the point of the arch of his foot, a few centimetres away from the height of his ankles at the front.

They interweaved thick strands with the centre, giving a few centimetres of space in between and joining with the edge of the base. The interweaving stopped at the edge of the soft bone (the centre) where the arch was at its highest and began to wrap it around his ankles. Behind his ankles another soft bone was attached from the base, rising vertically until it reached the edge of his calf. From there, the untied interweaving attached to the back soft-bone pillar –durable and flexible- with the same design until the end, where the strands did not leave any space between each to interweave and gave the support a width for foot movement within.

They did the same with the fourth layer, it being not in the same thickness as the third and finished the whole sandal with the fifth layer; the only purpose was to repel outside substance from Mother Nature.

His sandals were also stained in black from the battles and his feet hadn't swollen or bled after they had created it. He thanked them, partaking in their developing skills.

From the creation of his sandals, the creatures began to create weapons made for battle, not the ones they had used before. The efficiency was obvious, they were no longer losing as many on their side as it was on the other.

Only a couple of days later, Naruto discovered the large body of water being a very large river, one he couldn't see the end of, though it did split into small, multiple branches of rivers.

They had stumbled upon a land with green rolling hills as far as he could see after a particularly brutal battle with wargs and wolves. The land gave off the atmosphere of peace, of family, of a welcoming embrace of a mother and of healing. The creatures that never spoke had faces of joy and had hugged him in their excitement as they explored the land. The blonde hadn't been so confused in his life.

The creatures gifted him with the same sandals he wore, but, they were varying in size and colour and the weapons they had developed during their journey. He kept receiving gifts of value and sometimes none-of-value and when he tried to return the sentiments their eyes spoke of betrayal and sadness. He had taken it back and they were their happy, exuberant self again.

They had also adopted each of the babies he had taken care of as if they were their own and he had told them of their disability, but they didn't care. Their actions spoke louder than any words ever spoken – they never did speak, besides yelling wargs.

Naruto had gotten so used to the silence, had adapted to their ways of communication that conversations were made without a sound. Sometimes, when he was alone he wondered if he lost his voice and then shake his head when he sang softly to the babies still in his care –even if they were adopted, they were his first.

It wasn't long before the group was back to the large river they had seen first, watching as the sun began to rise from slumber and the stars winked out of sight. His hair had reached the middle of his back, still straight, the bangs hiding with his hair and the texture thick and soft as silk.


	6. Child in Gold

_**A/N:**_ **If Chapters 5 & 6 confuse you please go to my profile in the Muse area. All notices are there.**

They sat around the campfire, the only noise was his laughter and the crackling of embers, and the silence was comfortable having developed the skills to communicate over the times he spent with them. He had never been so grateful for their help, for their generosity and kindness; they had healed more than he could have done if he had to do it himself despite the constant battles with the wild.

He was laughing at one of their jokes, trying in vain to catch his breath when he finally uttered it.

"Hobbits."

The silence in the silence was deafening and he stopped laughing, his eyes staring at the now-dubbed hobbits.

The one on his right broke it.

"Thank you." He had uttered, grateful and so in awe as he kept muttering the words to himself.

It was an avalanche after that. The silence was no longer silent, and the cacophony of chatter had him frozen on the spot. He watched as their faces broke in relief and in happiness as they talked over one another; their voices finally heard. He smiled and joined in, voice hoarse from the lack of use.

The day was filled with noise and as the sun waved to sleep, the stars began to blink awake and the moon rise from the shadows the hobbits turned as one towards the blonde. Eyes sad, grateful, happy and resigned. One, by one, they each gave him a warm embrace and a mountain of gifts that he knew he had to accept and not give gifts to them. He had no idea what was happening.

"We will always remember you, young one." The eldest, for he knew the hobbit before him was the eldest smiled sadly. "When you first came across us with thirty newborns, you were just on the edge of broken. Eyes hid in shadows, shoulders weighing with the world and a heart almost gone despite moving on. We could not leave you like that."

Another hugged the small figure. "We did not know who you are, had no inkling until you named those beasts wargs and the sudden influx of sound had us reeling. We looked at you in a different light, we wanted to protect you but, it was too late. You were already fighting, and protecting you would only be detrimental to our bonds."

Hazel eyes locked onto his blue; a hobbit of curly brown hair ruffled his blonde locks.

 _"Eyes hid in shade,_

 _A whirlpool gaze._

 _Features of light,_

 _Save him from the fight._

 _Child of speed,_

 _Child of night,_

 _A human sacrifice._

 _The child shall name_

 _And speech shall be attained._

 _Thirty will stay,_

 _Civilisations be told,_

 _Say goodbye,_

 _Of the child in gold."_

The hobbit's eyes had glazed over, the voice of many coming from the one singular mouth as he spoke and snapped back to reality, the hand in the child's hair released as the hobbit hugged him, his farewells muffled in his tears.

"What did she mean _'save him from the fight'_?" Naruto asked, imbalanced by the words.

"Look back, before we met, the child in gold." The elder suggested.

Frowning, the child in gold forced himself to remember the despair his heart was going through, the split of his soul the thrashings of his chakra. There was a darkness within him, consuming him even after he tried to move on, tried to overcome the shadows of his actions and failing.

He had thirty babies to take care of, he had just erased life, he had just escaped but the man's words kept rewinding, kept reminding him of his actions. He remembers breaking a sharp of the crib, staring at the tip, the phantom spray of blood as he remembered painting the walls. It had been his first, for a long time, the red was his first. The pain it had brought had soothed his soul, had numbed him from the creeping darkness. He wanted to feel it again, he deserved it.

He had lied on the ground, eyes slowly turning black, the sky darkening at the corner of his eyes and an intense burning from within him had risen. Hot, burning red. The black markings on the child's stomach had spread, the red leaking, the pain was deserved. Tendrils of blood seeped from under his limp form as another strand of red burst from the black markings-

The child had woken in a different location, with thirty babies still with him and an ache of the fight still going within himself. He did not know how long he would last against the darkness of himself, he just so wanted to give up and sleep for all eternity. His will had been on its last tether, the anchor shrivelling, he had enough of life.

Naruto blinked back to the present and gave a shaky smile, it had been a while since he last gave it thought.

The elder hobbit smiled.

"You have a strength within you, and that strength will only grow to spread wide, to support those teetering over the edge. You are the chain, the link, the gold in the silver, but it will come at a price."

The hobbit held his wrist, tracing over a clear, unblemished skin. The fingers conjuring images of the wound that had once been there and tried to shake the hand off. The hobbit patted his shoulder in understanding.

"No ability comes freely; a personality is not made without challenges; and life will bring pain, for what is life without pain? To live is to feel pain. To not feel pain, one must either be dead or has lost themselves and become a shell, a husk, a body with no soul -that is the only way to not feel pain."

The blonde felt multiple arms wrapping around him, shaken from his memories, the elder's words a faint whisper in the wind.

"But," the elder mused, "life isn't all about pain, young one. Pain is made through feelings and through feelings emotions are created -with emotions, happiness, joy and love are felt."

The elder's eyes crinkled as if coming to a surprising conclusion, the smile almost beaming.

"In the end, life is felt, and when you're dead, one does not feel anything."

Naruto saw his vision blurring, a stinging sensation in his eyes even as he tries to strain his ears to the elder hobbit's words.

"Some say, that death is peace, an escape from the living." A flash of something appeared in the elder's gaze, but he continued on, even if another hobbit hugged him in support. "It is not peace," he declared with certainty, "one cannot feel peace when one is dead, it is just an endless slumber and nothing is felt."

"But that's just a realistic point-of-view." He muttered a wry smile on the elder's lips, his tone of voice dismissing everything he said to lighten the mood.

The blonde coughed, tears having left to roll down his cheeks.

A faint pat, barely felt, had him locking with hazel eyes.

"It's time to go home." She whispered to his barely visible image.

"You have a strong heart, a strong will, and an even stronger stubbornness." She smirked at him, ruffling his hair.

There were snorts from behind her at her statement.

"That combination will bring greater pain –it is all about balance, you see." The hobbit nodded to herself.

"One cannot have too much of a good thing and sometimes, the combinations you hold will bring you close to that darkness you saw. There is only so much of strength, only so much of will to keep one going, but the heart, it is a complex thing. It is everything you want and everything you hate all in the beating of the symphony of life. You want to close your heart to evade the pain, but, at the same time, pain is inevitable; it is constant -so you might fool yourself into thinking that you feel no pain and you only end up masking it, but: It. Is. Always. There."

The hobbit sighed, pointing at the blonde's chest.

"A strong heart is open, always welcoming even if it brings pain and still stands with open arms. A weak heart accepts barely anyone; it is afraid of pain, afraid to face it and, though, still stands, it is chained, dragging the host, the soul, into darkness."

Smiling, the hobbit embraced the child, "What I'm trying to say," She began, caressing the long hair, "is to stay strong, okay?" she gave a sisterly kiss to his cheek.

Naruto tried to call, even as the invisible hands took him further away from them, their smiles breaking his heart. Shaking himself, he tried to smile back, waving as a resigned expression passed his face.

"Everyone has someone, child in gold." He heard the wind whisper, vaguely registering the elder's voice. "Yours is waiting anxiously."


	7. The World Where I Belong

**A/N:** ** _Sorry, this chapter was short._**

Blue eyes startled open, the sky welcoming him home and the wind gently tugged his hair. The child pushed himself to stand on his feet only to yelp as the atmosphere disorientated him and he fell to his knees.

The child steadied his arms, slowly pushing his legs to stand even as his vision blurred. Once balanced, the blonde took a step forward and fell smack on his face. Grumbling, the child stood up again and slowly took each step with an apprehensive face.

A few hundred meters ahead, the shoulders relaxed only for gravity to still disorientate him and he fell, his arms taking the impact. Whimpering, the child made to push only to slam harshly on the ground, the dirt catching in his mouth.

"If it isn't the demon."

Grunting, the child turned his head, eyes peeking from under his lashes, the blonde froze in disbelief.

Cream kimono ruffles of the finest silk and embroidery of the rich decorated every inch of the man. His handsome twisted in fury, his lips in a thin line as he dug the heels of his boot on the small child's back.

The blonde stared blankly.

The wealthy man's jaw tensed, he bent down to hold the child's neck and lifted him.

Immediately, the child's breath left him as he struggled in the large hands of man.

"You destroyed everything!" the man's hands tightening on his neck.

The blonde tried punching at the hands, his eyesight covering in black spots and as he tried to breathe, his heart thumping wildly the chokehold changed, the hands gripped the child's waist and Naruto was left to choke in the fresh air.

Vision still blurred, the blonde did nothing to escape the hold, heart hammering in his throat.

The man led him to a two-storey building under the shade of a grand tree, through lush gardens and singing birds. The blonde wanted to cry, but he withheld his tears, not giving the man the satisfaction of the pain that would no doubt happen.

Inside, the rooms were bright, the sun shining in the right position and golden rays flooded the area. Quality furniture was placed strategically and the smell of fresh flowers came to the blonde's senses, he could hear the soft music play somewhere deeper in the house and the man brought him further in.

To another door, down a set of stairs and the light was cut-off there.

Blue eyes glared, even as the man's features appeared menacing in the flickering firelight. The man had the senses to flinch under the well-trained Uchiha glare that hadn't been used in a while.

The wealthy man gritted his teeth and smacked the insolent demon's cheeks.

The child was so used to the silence that he didn't utter a sound, even as tears sprung from his eyes at the force.

Still in the man's hold, blue eyes watched as the man released one of his hands to grab something from the fire, a red, hot, iron tool. His eyes widening, conclusions springing in the blonde's mind he reacted before the man began to turn.

Small strands of red chakra appeared at the child's torso, licking the man's hands with a gentle, barely-there touch. As more chakra travelled up the man's arm and reached towards his neck, the red chakra changed, becoming thicker and sinister.

Chakra in liquid form, red, hot, burning chakra touched the man's skin and he screamed, the hand holding the child releasing.

Landing on his butt, the blonde glared as the red liquid crawled up the man's face, his arms thrashing on the floor.

The child watched in fascination as it sunk into the skin, eating the flesh, even as one eye was consumed, the man was still kept alive, screaming his soul out.

His thrashing had hit on some object hidden in the shadows, spilling on the floor.

The man kicked the object and it began to roll towards the fire, not wanting to find out and taking his chance, the child ran up the stairs and towards the entrance just as the objects protection burned away from the fire and the substance inside it touched.

Naruto was at the edge of gardens, the trees outlining the boundary closing in and as he took another step, the child was thrown bodily off his feet and crashed towards the trees, red, hot, fire licking at his heels.

The second explosion had him scrambling through his pain, out of the property and running from the general area.

The third explosion was the loudest and largest, the impact wide enough to once again lift the blonde of his feet and thrown in some other direction he didn't know. A sharp hit on a tree branch had the child's eyes rolling back.


	8. Welcome to the Family

A mop of ash-blonde hair popped from behind the flap entrance of the trailer. Scanning the trees, the eyes lit up as a familiar figure came out of the shadows only to narrow down at the bundle on the arms.

"Nii-san, what d'ya got there?"

Nii-san adjusted his hold on the bundle, his equally ash-blonde hair swaying with the wind.

"A child."

Eyes lighting up, the figure hopped out of the trailer and walked side by side with Nii-san, standing on tip-toes to peer at the figure.

"Really?" trying to see through the sheet covering the figure. "Can I play with him?"

Nii-san breathed in deeply wanting to rub his temples.

"No."

Pouting, "Why?"

"He's injured."

Cocking her head to the side, she tried to take the cover but a look from her brother stopped her hand. Whining, she swung her arms as she followed her brother to their parent's tents.

"Oi!" Nii-san called out to the three adults. "Where's Nee-chan?"

"Whatcha got there?" their Tou-san asked, his head up from the map before him.

"An injured-"

"You shouldn't be picking up strays." Their Oji-san stated harshly, eyes flashing. "It could be a ninja."

Ba-san smacked his ash-blonde head, tutting in disapproval.

"Woman!" Oji-san snapped. "There are valuable brain cells in here!"

Tou-san snorted.

Whirling around, an accusing finger pointed at Tou-san. "At least I have brain cells!" he snapped. "What happened to yours?"

"Planning the course of action." Their Ba-san snapped back.

"Even your wife is on my side, dear Otōto." Tou-san sang.

"You're only older by five seconds!" Oji-san stated through gritted teeth.

"Still older~"

"By five seconds!"

"I was first into the world."

"Because you're an impatient brat!"

"Not I~" Tou-san gasped, hand to his heart.

"Yes you!"

"Are you sure?"

"Positive" he screamed.

Nii-san sighed heavily, a twitch above his brows beginning to thicken. He watched under furrowed brows the three adults bicker, having forgotten the original topic.

"Children!" Kaa-san bellowed as she entered the tent.

"What seems to be the problem, dearie?" Tou-san smiled innocently, giving his wife a hug.

Kaa-san huffed in the embrace, losing the steam of her lecture.

Oji-san opened his mouth but shut it again as his wife hit the back of his head. Crossing his arms he glared at Tou-san.

Kaa-san glared back.

Ba-san rubbed her temples.

Unseen by Kaa-san, Tou-san was smirking at his brother.

Nii-san wished there was a hard surface near him where he could bang his head repeatedly while despairing why he was in such a family.

She patted his arms in comfort.

He gave a half-hearted glare in her direction.

She grinned.

The tent flapped open as a bob of ash-blonde hair appeared first, followed by faintly freckled flesh and then a large, rotund shape where her abdomen should be. Waddling in, an elegant brow rose at the sight before her and waddled further in.

Following her, a messy mop of light-red hair appeared, connecting with lightly tanned skin and broad shoulders. He followed his wife and wrapped a protective arm around her bulge. An elbow to his torso had him looking down at the darkening expression on her face, he kissed the crown of her head and she sagged back, leaning her weight on him.

"Nee-chan," Nii-san called out, breaking the silence that had entered the tent.

Swivelling her head she saw him holding a bundled up figure. Sighing, she waddled over and peered down, when Nii-san didn't reveal the figure underneath, Nee-san jerked her head to the side.

Nii-san didn't reply, he turned around and exited.

Once revealed, the four stared blatantly at the slumbering figure. She, for the child before they could only be female, was wearing some sort of attire –that at first glance looked like a bed sheet- and, some form of sandals. Long, straight blonde hair adorned her head, the ends a bit crisped and faint whisker marks, barely visible if they hadn't been staring at her intently. Long, thick, curled blonde lashes curtained the edge of her lids and large, bruising hand-marks wrapped around her neck and faint bruising on her cheeks, but, most of all, the entirety of the person had burn marks, her clothes crispy.

Nee-san gasped holding her husband's hand for support.

Nee-san's husband gave Nii-san a long stare.

Nii-san nodded, exiting with her, despite her protests.

"Let's go make supper." He suggested.

Still grumbling, she agreed.

Around the fire, the four sat in companionable silence, the adults back at their tents discussing over the map.

"Not a girl."

Three heads turned to look at Nee-san, her eyes staring at her bowl.

"Are you sure?" Nii-san collected the plates and handing it over to the youngest sibling.

Nee-san blushed.

Nii-san's brows rose, lips twitching with Nee-san's husband.

"What?" the youngest asked.

"I-I checked." Nee-san's face turning to the side, her blush reaching the tip of her ears.

Chuckling, Nee-san's husband embraced his wife.

The following morning with the sun barely awake and the bird's still silent, the stars still twinkling up at the dark sky, a pair of eyes opened gradually.

Taking a deep breath, the figure pushed himself off the mattress, the blanket sliding down and the cold, early-morning air touching his skin. Shivering slightly, the hand pulled up the warm blanket, wrapping it around his shoulders and trailing after him when he walked.

About to open the flap of the tent, the figure halted mid-air, eyes scanning his surroundings, he continued his course of action. Slipping the scalpel under the palm of his left hand, he grabbed the needle and filled it with a substance nearby.

As silently and carefully as he could, he opened the tent flap a crack, his eyes peering into the darkness. In the shadows, he could make out two figures moving between the shades of the trees, glints of steel flashing under the moonlight.

They had just opened one of the tents and were gearing to enter it when the figure spying them released his weapons.

The needle tip had luckily reached the vein of the neck, the substance draining fast and the victim fell to the ground with a muffled thud.

The scalpel had hit the biceps, his cry of pain or surprise had every occupant in the area jolting up in alert, including the ones hidden.

Spotting more shadowed figures invading the space, he stepped out fully from the tent and twisted the blanket in his hands tightly. Rushing in, he lashed out to the nearest shadow, the twisted blanket –now acting as a rope or whip- wrapped around one shadowed figure's thigh. He gave a pull, and the figure yelled, imbalanced, his arms waving as he tried to balance but his neighbour instead. They both fell back.

A sharp pain from his shoulder had him glancing at his assailant, the glint of metal dripping with blood. Flipping back, he watched the two on the ground and the one in front of him warily.

There were yells from behind him and he lashed. Slapping away the weapon and wrapping it around the assailant's wrist. Giving it a pull, the figure bent forward trying to regain his balance, a knee to his cheek had his head snapping to the side.

Twirling the blanket around the man, he twisted and pushed the man's back forward whilst his hands held the opposite ends of the blanket, restraining the man. Giving the sheet a sharp pull to the right, the body went limp.

Turning to face the other two, he only spotted one, cursed, and snapped the sheet at the one coming from behind him. The blanket wrapped around the man's torso and he gave a pull closer, the momentum providing the strength for him to knock the breath out of his ambusher. An open palm strike to the soft plate in the centre of the chest had the other choking for air, and a knee to the neck had the body limp.

The blonde gave a whimper of pain as a kick sent his body crashing into the wooden wheels of the trailer, the impact knocking the breath from him. A stomp to his side had him choking on a scream, and a punch to his cheek snapped his head to the side. Sucking in a deep breath, he rolled under between the man's legs and tied his sheet around them.

When the man made to turn, he had to adjust his balance at the sudden limit to his movements. The man rolled away just in time to avoid the kick in his direction, dodging against a punch and falling back as a foot stuck from behind him.

The blonde slammed a kick into the gut and with the tip of his foot kicked the chin. The struggling stopped.

Breathing heavily, he walked off the body-

"Watch out!"

-and gasped in pain as he fell to the ground, a heavy weight on his body. Gritting his teeth, he pushed the body off harshly, not minding if it got hurt or not. He shot the red-head a glare worthy of his two friends and withheld a smile at the flinch.

A sudden bout of exhaustion had him on the ground, curled, with his arm around his ribs and conscious drifting to sleep.

The blonde woke with the sun at its highest point and the rays glaring at him. Snuggling further into the mattress, his eyes snapped open, head turned to the side. Pushing himself up, he winced at the sharp pain from his ribs and took a careful breath.

Once confident he wouldn't puncture his organs, the child gently meandered off the bed and towards the tent flaps. He fell to the ground, his whimper of pain had the other fluttering around him, her apologies heard, but not listened.

Breathing in deeply, he watched through his lashes at a rotund female with ash-blonde hair preparing the medical equipment with expert ease.

"Why's your stomach large?" he tilted his head to the side.

The woman froze, her eyes glaring at him. "Are you saying I'm fat?" she hissed in warning.

The tent flap opened to reveal the red-headed man marching towards the woman, embracing her closely.

"He's just a kid, there's no need to get angry." The man whispered.

A light lit up her face, her expression crumbling as she cried in her husband's arms.

The blonde child stared at them confused, the red-headed man smiling gently.

"She's pregnant." He answered his silent question.

The confused expression had the man elaborating.

"You know what babies are right?" Receiving a nod, he continued, "She's carrying a baby in her, that's why her stomach appears round." He whispered the last part, not wanting the wrath of his wife.

The horrified expression on the child's face had him laughing. Patting the child's shoulder lightly, he tipped his head forward.

"Satoshi Akira." He introduced himself.

"Satoshi Haruhi, my wife of five years." He pointed at his wife's retreating form before looking at him expectantly.

Breathing in trepidation, he locked eyes with Satoshi-san, "Uzumaki Naruto, Satoshi-san."

Satoshi-san grinned, "Call me Akira. If you call out Satoshi, my wife and I wouldn't know which one you're referring to."

Naruto nodded, watching the form of Akira disappear from behind the flaps and snuggled back into the mattress, exhaustion still present.

It was around supper time that the child woke up and ventured from the tent, catching what seemed to be the everyday arguments between identical ash-blonde men.

"-five seconds!"

The other man sighed, sending the one across him pity. "I thought you got rid of your jealous streak, Otōto~"

The other screamed to the sky, hands in the air.

The man grinned toothily.

One of the women watching rubbed her temples.

"Men." She muttered, the two besides her nodding.

Akira appeared from behind his wife, pouting, "What about me?"

Haruhi stared at her husband blandly. "Yes, you too."

The other two women laughed at his faked, pained expression.

A moment passed and Akira caught sight of Naruto, observing their interactions from the edge.

"Uzumaki-san." He waved

Haruhi turned to the blonde child, a smile on her face, "Come, Uzumaki-san." Walking up to him, she laid a gentle hand on the back of his shoulder, guiding him to the group.

Standing before the group awkwardly, the child watched them warily. Eyes snapping slightly to his right, a girl with ash-blonde hair in twin piggy-tails bounded up to him, her expression bubbly as she jumped on the spot.

"So're'you better now?" was all Naruto could decipher from all her other ramblings.

He nodded.

The girl pouted at him, poking at his arm, "You don't talk much, do you?"

He stared blankly at her.

The girl grinned. "You look like a girl."

He blinked slowly, her family admonishing her.

Pouting, she crossed her arms, "Fine~" she sighed. "I'm sorry for calling you that, but really, you really look like a girl. Long blonde hair, long, curled lashes, a pretty face…" she began to list.

A teen older than her pinched the bridge of his nose, he smiled apologetically even though no one was paying the young girl attention.

"That's Hamika Anna, don't mind her." Akira told the blonde boy.

"The one smiling apologetically is Kisuke, older brother by five years."

Kisuke nodded in greeting.

"That man that had yelled something about five seconds, that's the younger twin brother, Roshino and his wife -the one with blonde streaks- is Shincha."

Shincha elbowed her husband's ribs, smiling at Naruto in greeting. Roshino just grunted, earning him a smack to the head.

"The father to my beautiful wife is the head of the Hamika family, Joshiwa and his wife; the bearer and leader of the family, Naomi."

The two smiled at him.

"Hamika family, meet Uzumaki Naruto!" forcing the boy to bend to his waist.

"Really Akira, there's no need for you to guide the boy to bow." Admonished Shincha.

"He's injured too." Added Naomi.

Akira cringed slightly, "Sorry."

Naomi walked over to the blonde boy, guiding him to a seat and pushing a bowl of food to him. "Eat."

Blinking, he dug in, mindful of his manners, or rather, lack of it.

"-is no one listening to me!" Anna shouted to her family.

The glazed eyes had her huffing and her face red.


	9. Not What he Seems

Naruto had gotten used to silence. Travelling with hobbits that didn't speak didn't utter a sound had him adapting to their ways of communication. It was like watching a silent movie, the audience were forced to observe their gestures so that they may be able to understand the conversations.

Fighting with hobbits with that kind of action had him integrating it deeply within himself. He had to be constantly aware of everything because there were many moments during the battle that a hobbit would signal something. It could be that he was heavily injured; protecting a heavily wounded partner; protecting multiple, wounded hobbits; a child was taken; a change of plans and he could list more. The fact was, that the blonde child had adapted to it until it was second nature and then for them to suddenly speak had given him a shock that he just went with it.

Travelling with the Hamika-Satoshi family made Naruto realise that the habit of silent conversations wasn't common. He remembered trying to tell them that yes he was hungry; that yes that bandit that had plunged her poison blade did reach its target and no, can you please do that somewhere else -but all of it was ignored as the family had no skills in that area.

It had taken a while for that fact to sink into his consciousness, and it had taken even longer to try and converse verbally. Most of the time he remained silent -even through very engaging conversations where he tried to mostly verbalise his input- and struggled to complete the sentences.

If the Hamika-Satoshi family had the ability to converse silently they would have discovered that Naruto was very chatty, almost as bad as Anna, but since they didn't, Anna became the amusement of the group.

They had just finished another bandit ambush, their assailants knocked cold on the floor and the group were nursing their wounds.

At the corner of his eye, he saw Akira dragging the bodies away subtly from the family's scrutiny. The blonde boy followed the red-head, his footsteps quiet and watched from behind a tree trunk as the man brought the blade he held across the bandit's neck. He did the same with the rest and with a few hand-seals the area glowed briefly and the bodies lit up, the fire burning away at the skin. Naruto watched transfixed, his view on the red-head cracking.

A tap on the blonde's shoulder had the child looking up to see the red-head staring at him, lips pursed in a thin line.

"Naruto."

Akira's eyes had widened when with a gasp of pain the blonde child fell to the ground, arm clutching the small shoulder. Gathering the child in his arms, the man rushed back to his family, specifically for his wife.

"Haruhi!" He called out once he reached the camp.

His wife had only glanced at him but she rushed to him, ushering his bundle in a tent.

Naruto knew that Akira had seen him. Had seen him writhe in his nightmares, muffling his screams and clawing at his skin, but the man said nothing and the blonde ignored it.

It was another night with the child barely able to sleep.

 _Past the trees, the child ran, his heart beating too fast for his liking._

 _The howls in the air reached his ears, prickling the hairs on his skin and he kept running._

 _They were stupid. He was an idiot._

 _When the battle had begun, it wasn't only the wargs that met them. No, it was wolves. Snarling, hungry wolves._

 _They had faltered in their actions and the animals took advantage of that. The wargs met their weapons with great force, one already had ripped off one of the hobbit's head, the red blood spilling in splatters._

 _Even though the hobbits didn't talk, their eyes screamed and the blonde child really wanted them to make a sound, it would at least distract him from their distraught faces._

 _Crashing against a rock formation with his head spinning, he saw the wolves that had remained behind run into the forest. His conscious was yelling something from his dazed mind, his body moving automatically to dodge the wargs' claws._

 _It took only a few seconds later that had his eyes widening, his scream stuck in his throat as he beheaded the beast and ran into the forest._

 _It took only the few seconds the blonde had remained in a daze for the wolves to reach the hideout. Children mingled about, the eldest child and the elders holding the thirty babies in their arms. Their eyes had frozen at the sight of the wolves-_

The scream glued to his throat, he flipped over, the body below him grunting as he held his blade under the neck.

"Naruto!"

The hiss had the blonde snapping from his memories, scrambling off the body and dropping the blade in horrified realisation.

"M'sorry, sorry-hic-sorry-"

Akira gathered the distraught child in his arms, rocking the frail body in a calming gesture.

"You're really something." The man smiled, rubbing the back of his shoulder.

The blonde had hidden his nightmares after that, sleeping further away from the family. Another night had the child leaning against a rock, breathing deeply as he tried to calm his heart and stop the flooding of his memories.

"Another nightmare?"

Snapping his head to the origin of the voice, he hunched his shoulders as the man with the red hair came into view under the light of the moon. The man didn't say anything, he sat beside the blonde, his aura comforting the child.

"When I was younger," the man began after several minutes of silence. "I had nightmares too." He admitted.

"There are different ways to handle them; I took the easiest and the weakest direction. You, on the other hand," tapping the blonde's shoulder until his blue eyes locked in with the man.

"You're stronger than me." He smiled, pulling the head to his chest. "You still sleep, still stand and still fight. I wasn't like that." He paused, playing with the blonde locks.

"I never slept."

"Why'nt sleep?" Naruto struggled to word a few nights later, his back leaning against the man's chest.

The man patted the blonde head.

"I couldn't face my nightmares. It was too painful, and I thought that if I didn't sleep I would be able to forget, and I had, but it wasn't because my action worked, no." The man shook his head.

"I was exhausted. We are still humans and we need our rests. Without it, our bodies won't be able to function properly and our fuel would diffuse, leaving nothing but a husk. With every rest, our body regenerates our lost energy, and with every renewed energy our bodies are able to fight against our enemies."

The child tilted his head back, eyes drooping.

The man chuckled, "Face your memories, your nightmares and with every pain gained; with every obstacle you overcome, the person you become is shaped by it."

"There are choices in the direction one would take." The redhead mused. "It is part of being alive. Choices, pain, feelings, emotions." He listed, his eyes watching the stars observing them from below.

"It is the choices we take, in the end, that paves our final destination in the journey of being."

The man's voice lulled the child to sleep.

To the enjoyment of the family, Akira had taken the blonde boy under his wing, forcing him to communicate out loud. It worked sometimes, but Akira often forgot that Naruto needed help and usually teased him in the end, to the laughter of the group.

Kisuke was the quietest, not silent like Naruto; he forced himself to talk softly trying to get rid of the brashness in his voice and Akira often hinted about the teen trying to woo a girl his age. That attracted the attention of the only twins in the family and Kisuke was left a burning shade of red by the end of their playful banter.

The twins were different, the blonde having not met many twins, especially of the identical sort. Sometimes they ganged up together to tease another mercilessly, other times they would argue intensely and heatedly that Naruto thought they hated each other the first few times they did. That thought was dashed when they decided to tease him on his silence.

The thing with Naruto, was that he was still fairly young and whatever nonsense the twins spouted from their mouths, or the glint in their eyes and even the cheeky grins they wore, it went over the blonde's head. He had blinked incomprehensively at them, the family sans the twins had laughed at his reaction and since then have made it their goal for him to blush as much as possible.

Akira sometimes helped, and the few times he did blush he would usually send his best Uchiha glare in his direction. That action had been lessening as the red-haired man gradually became immune to it and had forced Naruto to stop himself, not wanting his best weapon to be non-workable.


	10. A Family Slight

The blonde pouted at the twins.

They grinned at him, nonplussed.

Naruto turned his head to the side, nose in the air.

"Awe," Joshiwa sang.

Roshino knelt in front of the child, fingers pinching the chubby cheeks, "you'll be smothered by every female." He told the blonde seriously.

Shincha coughed into her hand.

The man blinked, turned to his wife and then back to the blonde boy; he pulled the child into an embrace.

His twin snickered.

He glared.

Joshiwa pouted.

Rolling his eyes, he let the child go and ruffled the blonde hair, "There's a chance you'll be kidnapped."

"A very high chance," Joshiwa added, he peered at the small blonde closer. "He's pretty."

"Yes!" Anna yelled, "Someone has finally seen it!" her fist pumping in the air.

Roshino walked over to the girl and ruffled her hair, "We've all seen it, gaki."

"It's just too obvious for it to be said aloud." Joshiwa elaborated.

Anna squawked, "Watch the hair!"

Kisuke raised his brow, "what hair?" he drawled to the laughter of Akira and Roshino.

The girl stalked over to her brother and attempted to kick his shin.

"It's not Anna's fault that the bandit's jutsu was done incorrectly." Naomi admonished, "Anna! Stop kicking your brother's shin!" she pulled the girl's collar away from the teen.

Roshino stared at the girl, "It's shiny."

The man stumbled forward in surprise.

"Woman!" he glared.

Shincha clicked her tongue, "Husband." She replied blandly.

Joshiwa had Naruto in a hug, the child's back leaning against his chest, the small legs dangling in the air as he walked.

"It is shiny, isn't it To-chan~?" he whispered too loudly.

The blonde child lost his glare and giggled, turning to stare at the girl.

A mutter behind the two had Joshiwa whirling around to snarl at his twin, a tick on his brow, "Say that again."

Roshino raised a brow, his lip raising a tilt.

"Old age must be catching up, eh~ Nii-san?" he drawled mockingly.

The elder twin marched up to his brother and sneered, "I'm the same age as you."

"But, you're older by five seconds." The younger twin replied, waggling his forefinger.

"You have more wrinkles than me," Joshiwa commented, his eyes trailing at the aforementioned wrinkles on his twin's face.

Roshina twitched, lips thinning, "It's your fault!" he jabbed his finger at the elder's chest.

His twin pouted, "But, why~?"

Gritting his teeth, the younger twin roared, "You irresponsible Old-Man!"

"Pot calling the kettle black." Joshiwa twitched his lips into a smile.

Twirling out of his twin's grasping hands, he skipped ahead of the grip, raising the blonde child in the air,"grandpa-Roshi is a meanie!" he told the boy.

"Who'ya calling grandpa!"

Laughing, Joshiwa threw the blonde into the air just as he was tackled to the ground.

"No throwing children into the air!" Shincha yelled, Naomi following at her heels as they stomped their way to the twins running ahead. "Don't you run away!"

"Face it like a man!" Naomi hollered at the dust trail.

Naruto landed softly in the arms of the red-haired man.

The man grinned down at the child, "How was your trip?"

"Akira." Haruhi drawled.

Chuckling nervously, the man patted the blonde's figure, "You okay?"

Naruto blinked and nodded slowly.

"They're supposed to be adults." Kisuke sneered.

"They are." Anna nodded.

The teen cuffed his sister's shiny head.

"Quiet, shiny."

Gaping, the girl pinched the hand on her bare head.

Yelping, the teen glared at his younger sister, "violent female." He muttered, hands in his pockets.

Haruhi turned her head slowly, "Did you say something, my dear Otōto~?" she smiled, teeth poking her lips.

Kisuke ran ahead.

Anna snickered, "Men are cowards."

Lifting the blonde child, Akira pouted at his sister-in-law, "What about me?"

"You don't count, dear." Haruhi patted the redhead's shoulder.

The blonde child rubbed the man's hair in a comforting gesture.

Anna laughed.

Akira sniffled, burying his head in the crook of Naruto's shoulder, "You're my only ally." He wailed.

Walking through an unfamiliar path -Naruto had gotten used to not being able to recognise where they were going- the boy holding hands with Haruhi, blue eyes frequently glanced at a particularly large bulge. The woman holding his hands chuckled softly, smiling at the wonder the boy had on his expression.

Bored with the repeated scenery of rocks and more rocks, Naruto lost himself in his memories, trusting the large, gentle hands to lead him away. Haruhi's hands were calloused with weapon holding, one the boy also had formed, it wasn't soft, though Naruto had never held a person's hands that were soft. He could remember vaguely of hands worn and wrinkled; small and calloused. Blue eyes looked down at his hands, they too were small and calloused, yet they were flawless despite the many injuries he had attained, not like the ones vaguely in his memories.

Truthfully, Naruto didn't even know where he was anymore, how to get back to wherever he had come from, but he knew somehow, it was a gut feeling, that the technique Akira had used meant he was back home, somewhat. It wasn't truly home yet, the lack of trees or lush, green, plant life flicker behind his eyes was an indication. How long had he been?

He was working on his voice box, the raspy, scratchy sound in his throat would usually dissuade him from even talking. Pronouncing words, letters and the general context of sentences to start, continue, or end a conversation was hard for him. He was used to subtle signs, noises or a little twitch and the people he was travelling with gave off different signals to what they were saying.

Naruto shook his head, no, these people didn't know the silent communication, he had trouble understanding them sometimes, limited with some knowledge from hazy memories. Haruhi glanced at him, eyebrow raised, mouth open to inquiry, but, she couldn't as something zipped past her head and a gasp came from behind them.

The youngest child didn't know if to rush to the injured or stay with a pregnant woman, so he stood, conflicted even as clashing metal was heard around him. Shouts of words he was unfamiliar with and the hand he was holding had let go to clang with someone above.

Shaking out from his stupor, he was used to conflict, just not with people. Untying his sash, he twirled it around and snapped it to one of the people sneaking up on a profusely, bleeding Kisuke. Naruto tried his best to clear away the only healer, which was predominately Haruhi and trailed after her like some dwarf guard. He had no idea how to do it, the woman being heavily pregnant.

He was short! How was he to reach their assailants if they were so high? His moment of frustrating had cost him, because, as he turned back to the woman, Haruhi had a large gash alarmingly close to the swell of her stomach. Grinding his teeth, a scream tore through the air and he chanced a look at the direction it came from only to see red-hair blurring past, his weapon tainted red.

Akira wasn't happy.

Naruto's mind had become a haze, the sight of gushing blood, and a headless body numbed him, it reminded him of the time he had let it happen, except there were no monsters to fight, but people. He had never spilt blood from a human, so he watched, numbly as an enraged red hurricane turned the battlefield the same shade as his hair.

A cloaked figure came in front, and before the blond could put up a fight, the hand reached out and pulled. A sharp point on his neck had the red hurricane pause, the air around them heavier than before. His capturer had slackened slightly, the person's aura vibrating with the victory, unfortunately, it was a bad move on the cloaked figure's part. The little, blond boy only managed a blink before the Akira had descended upon them and the heavy weight and the sharp point of the kunai slipped away. A thud, moments later had him turning, and stared. He didn't get to stare long when his saviour steered him far away from the red ground, towards the Hamika-Satoshi family.

"-kill." The word had the blonde zoning into the conversation. Roshino and Akira facing each other as the family watched on the sidelines.

"They would come after us again." The hurricane explained in lieu of whatever context the little blonde had missed.

"Look around you!" the younger twin hissed, sweeping with his hands at the red, red, red covered ground.

"I could wash it away with a water technique or earth." Akira offered, ignoring the anger of his uncle-in-law.

"SEE!" Roshino pointed at the red-head, "This is what I mean with shinobi bringing bad luck! It almost killed Haruhi!"

"They bring peace too, Oji-san." The hurricane's wife retorted.

"By war! It's all a farce; every one of them are bloodthirsty people! Psychotic and dark! Akira is proof! He killed them, he's no more than a cold-blooded murderer in the end!"

"That is enough!"

Naruto didn't know who said that, but he also didn't understand Roshino's accusations. If Akira hadn't been there, they would have died, overwhelmed the by the numbers of shinobi-bandits. As for killing your opponents, the blonde had learnt through many battles that if an enemy is given a chance, they would do it again. Everyone may learn from their mistakes, but it doesn't stop them from doing so again, he didn't know if it would count to animals. A particular memory of young toddlers eaten in front of him was proof of that.

Sometime later found the blonde searching for the red hurricane. The man looked pained, hurt by the words thrown at him and didn't bother defending himself, just explaining why he had to. Naruto didn't know why the man didn't, he had not much interactions with tall, human, beings after all.

He found Akira staring blankly at the red soil, his hands fisted white. The man turned, eyes guarded as the small blonde came to view, his lips pressed in a thin line. Though the soil was redder than he was used to, the battles he had been in was mixed with more black than red, Naruto walked through it, not cringing at the sloshing noises his steps would make. Akira just watched, blankly, critical eyes assessing.

Once the blonde had reached the man, he looked up and saw the slight trembles of the man's body. Vague words from a long memory filtered his mind as if the word _shinobi_ had meant something to him. It was just another word for warrior. Perhaps, it was time to reveal a bit about himself, after all, the blonde had spilt blood long before he was rescued by Kisuke.

"There's nothing wrong with killing, is there?" Naruto was kind of happy his word context was at least tangible than before, with hardly anyone understanding. He was glad with the patience they bore in reteaching the skill.

The man's face didn't change from the question, still staring at the blood soaked ground. " Killing is wrong." The red-head admitted it was the truth.

The blonde was mutely shocked, "But, why?" All he had known for most of his life after his capture from the nobleman was killing. Did it make him a monster? Naruto didn't want to be a monster, not like the ones he had killed, did it count when killing animals instead of humans? But, weren't humans, animals too? The blonde's face paled, the voice of someone else suggesting it.

"To take a life…" the man looked down, eyes almost broken, his words a whisper. "it breaks a person, tears them apart, changes them inside, however, slight the transformation may be. To kill-no, to murder," he choked over the word, face taut in pain, "it is inhumane, who would want to do that act?" he laughed bitterly, almost forgetting the blonde in front of him, eyes glazed over. "Blood is the mattress for the sheets of victory. The screams haunt the words written, and the casualties, the broken, decorate the covers. Our history is nurtured by murder, by kills, the blood-soaked ground our resting point." A scarred hand combed through the golden locks, eyes still not looking down.

Naruto gripped the man's pants, "Does, does that mean we're monsters?"

Akira closed his eyes, pained from hearing an innocent voice, so close and the memories of once he used to be. "I-I don't know." Voice cracking as was the heart inside.

"You're not." A new voice snapped.

The both of them turned to face a familiar figure, belly swollen, though still on the other side of the clearing, a step away from the where the blood started. She hesitated at the sight, then squared her shoulders and walked at the circumference of the clearing, though still stepping in blood. She crossed her arms once she reached them, a scowl on her features.

"A monster doesn't care about another life. A monster is a selfish entity. A monster is evil." She listed off, grinding her teeth at the thought of her husband even dare thinking he was one. Pommelling her uncle was not enough if Akira started to spiral into the shadows of his past, there were too many periods when it had happened, and the more the man fell, the harder it was to pull him. She glared, not even satisfied as her husband shrank into himself. "Yes, you have killed, murdered and done your fair share of inhumane acts, but, as long as you have a heart to care, to love, to still laugh You. Are. Not. A. Monster." She jabbed her finger to his chest at her last words.

Akira's face softened, grabbing his wife's hands and kissing it each. "I suppose not." He chuckled weakly.

Haruhi rolled her eyes. "You married me, is that not, proof enough?" she harrumphed.

And Akira pulled her close, careful of the swell on her belly and kissed her unrestraint, his weak laughter of relief flooding through. The blonde boy watched in wonder, though made a sound once weird noises came from them.

The married couple pulled apart, the wife blushing and the husband laughing, though he had a tint of red as well. The two had momentarily forgotten the child.

Later that night, with the sun having slept and the stars twinkled brightly in the navy sky, the Hamiko-Satoshi family had made up. Roshino looking properly chastised, sorting a black eye and a red, swollen cheek apologised, the red-head pulling his uncle-in-law to a hug despite the splutters.

"You said we are monsters." A voice snapping out from his staring contest from a boulder. The blonde turned his head to see the hurricane step out from under the darkness of the trees. Bright, red hair illuminated by the rays of the moon. He sat down next to the blonde.

"Has your hands been tainted?" The man's voice was a careful curiosity, hiding everything else.

Naruto turned his attention to the boring boulder. "I have killed animals."

Akira made a noncommittal sound. "I guess, animals can count." He stated after a while. "They're food for one, but they can also kill us too. It could be in defence or hunger, or just in they're nature. It's also the basic characteristics of humans."

The blonde shrugged. When one was on the battlefield there was no difference, it was killed or be killed and risk the safety of others. Getting bored with the boring boulder, blue eyes transferred to the sky, no matter where one went to, the sky would always be relatively the same.

Akira followed his line of sight, a sombre smile on his face. "My grandfather once told me," the man began, voice wistful in, eyes glazed as he lost himself in memories, though he still continued to talk. "Those who pass on never leave us; that they turn into stars that make up the night sky. They shine their light in the darkness, to guide the people in the right direction, granted, not many would actually follow it, but it is there. A light in the darkness, a sun in the shadows of past."

"If everyone who has passed on were in the sky, wouldn't it be crowded?" Naruto's voice dragged the man's trail of thought from his memories.

Akira chuckled, ruffling blonde locks, the slight glare in his direction had his spirits slightly lifted. "Perhaps they reincarnate eventually."

The child turned his eyes to his companion, tilting his head. "Reincarnate?"

The man hummed, "Every living thing has a soul. Plants, animals, humans, we all have it in common. Reincarnation is a soul that would go through the cycle of life, be born, grow, die and be born again; but every time one is born, they are different from their last life." He explained.

"How so?"

"For example, a dog would be born, grow and die and be born into a human; but, their memories of their last life would not go with them, though, maybe, they would get a sense a ghost of familiarity in a situation that affected them in their previous lives." A smile curled his lips, "My great-great-grandfather could have been reincarnated as a tree, for all I know." He gave a helpless shrug.

The blonde choked on a laugh, though if the grin on the redhead's face was any indication, he knew too.

The next day, they were on an unfamiliar, almost unused road, again. The bandits attacking them, becoming a regular occurrence in their travels, sometimes kidnapping, hostage, threatening situations. Akira took care of that, and Roshino had reluctantly kept his silent, knowing it was for the best.

The third time any of the children -including Kisuke- was kidnapped, it wasn't Akira who snapped into a red hurricane rage, it was Joshiwa, pissed and Roshino followed, a maniacal laughter in the air. No one in the family knew which twin gave off the sound, because right after them came the hurricane and his hormonal wife.

Calling her fat was a no go. A particular group of bandits had been taught that, though no one but Haruhi knew what she did to them even after they were disposed of. Her husband had looked slightly pale once he had come back, but he was otherwise normal if a bit cautious.

Really, a number of times they were attacked was irritating, not that Naruto didn't know if it was normal to be attacked every day, it just got annoying at their determination with doing something with the Hamiko-Satoshi family. The blonde didn't know why, or why they were travelling, or where, or how, or when, or whatever, just that they had to find decent civilisations to deliver the increasingly growing belly of Haruhi Satoshi.

There was a time when Joshiwa was the one who was kidnapped, and Roshino, though he had a poker face on and spewing vulgar words at the worthlessness of his brother getting kidnapped, the younger twin had spilled his first blood without being forced to. The damage done to his brother, the crying face of the Hamiko wives had snapped some part of Roshino, all the while colourful words would be spat at anyone who got in his way.

Akira understood the trauma of first, blood and the massacre so he went to play psychiatric with Roshino. They came back to camp with a closer, amiable, friendship than before. The next bandit attack, the younger twin joined in willingly to soak the earth red. He never commented about murders again.

"Pathetic excuse of a relation. What shitting idiot gets themselves fucking kidnapped?!"

"Not me."

"Tch. Better not be, Onii san."

"Oh, so you've finally admitted to me being the first born?"

"Go shove your ego up yours!"

"Now, now. No need to be petty-"

"Gah! Fuck off!"

"Language!"

"Woman! How many times do I have to tell you, there are valuable brain cells in here!"

"Do you want me to get the soap?"

"Go make babies, brother!"

"Oh? I wouldn't mind~"

"NO!" yelled everyone else.

"Okay, okay. No need to be jealous."

"Joshiwa!" "Asshole!" "Tou-san!" "I cannot believe this…"

"Honey, do keep quiet what goes behind closed doors."

"Yes, dear."


	11. Inclusion Fill

Biting his lip to prevent the cry of pain, the child scrambled up the tree he had crashed into -barks digging into his skin. Hiding behind the leaves, blue eyes observed below at the lone figure fingering a slip of paper.

The sudden weight on his back had the child's grip on the branch slipping and he fell to the ground with a yelp.

The figure whirled around, eyes landing on the child a few meters away from him and to his partner behind it.

Quickly pushing his arms up, Naruto kicked his legs and swung them behind him, the resistance it had met had the obstacle falling to the ground. Scrambling further away from them, the blond observed the two in weariness. Grabbing a large rock, he threw it at the figure with the paper and ran deeper into the forest.

"Get back here!"

Slipping on the half-dried mud, the blonde skidded to a stop as a large rock formation blocked his path. Swivelling his head around, Naruto panicked and was slammed onto the rough surface.

A kick to his chest, a punch to his face and a blow to his head had the blonde stumbling in a daze. Turning to the opposite direction he had only a millisecond to redirect his steps and faltered, throwing himself to the side, the sharp sting from a slash to his thigh had the child tumbling to the ground.

From the corner of the blonde's vision, he saw the man wrap the slip of paper on the kunai, the smile vindictive as he aimed at the downed child. The female above the blonde held her tanto to her side, the tainted metal glinting with his blood.

The man threw the kunai wrapped paper to him, his finger in a seal as he began to activate it.

"Kai-"

"That. Is. MY. SON!"

With each word, a figure kicked the figure higher into the air and slammed the bandit to the ground, a kunai embedded in the bandit's neck had him choking on his blood.

"Wind: Great Breakthrough!" a man yelled as he finished his seals, his technique redirecting the direction of the kunai and ripped into the woman's stomach.

She dropped to the ground, breathing heavily.

A scream of the man's name had the figure gathering the injured child in his arms and rushing back to the origin of the voice.

"AKIRA!"

Sometime later in the day, a child of long, blonde hair shuffled his feet, eyes on the ground as the red-head man stared at him.

"What were you thinking?" he hissed, ignoring the family watching them.

"Haruhi-san was in pain-I thought-I thought, that I could take their atten-attention away," Naruto explained, arms wrapping around himself, as he blinked the tears away stubbornly.

"Well, you did," Akira stated with disdain.

The blonde child flinched.

"Dear-"

The redhead raised a finger at his wife's direction, his narrowed eyes silencing her.

"Do you know why I'm angry?" he asked his tone calm.

The blonde shook his head.

"Answer me." He ordered.

Shoulders shaking, the child let his tears fall, "N-no."

"I told you not to move. I told you not to reveal yourself. I. Told. You. To. STAY!"

Biting his lip, the child forced himself not to sob, feet shuffling back.

"You don't know how to fight properly. You're still a child, a young one at that and you will only be a distraction to the fight."

Haruhi gasped, "Dear, stop-"

"No." Akira snapped, eyes glaring holes at the child in front of him. "If he continues not to listen, there will be a time when one of us will get distracted and it will result in our death-bed. We can't continue to protect our precious people when we're dead, Haruhi. What use will I be? I won't be there to comfort him or you or be there for the birth of our child. He's a distraction."

A long silence filled the camp sight, shadowed eyes of the family avoided each other.

"Not apo'ging." The blonde child muttered softly, breaking the silence as he wiped away his tears.

Rubbing his face tiredly, the red-head heaved a long sigh, his shoulders dropping. The man knelt down and pulled the child to his chest, arms tightening at the struggling figure.

"Baka, son-of-mine." He puffed.

Peering at the Hamiko-Satoshi family's reaction, he stared blankly at them.

"He's mine." He declared to the amusement of his wife and grinned. A gleam appeared in the man's eyes as he directed his gaze to an ash-blonde man. "Oji-san, meet your great-grandnephew."

Roshino's mouth fell open, not even bothering to respond to his brother's snickers.

"At least I'm still a father and a grandpa." Joshiwa commented, dodging the punch from his twin.

"Great-granduncle, great-granduncle…" Anna sang around the twin's legs.

The wives laughed softly, eyes gentle as they watched the red-head man pick his son up and lift him to the air. The giggle emitted lightened the atmosphere.

"It's Tou-san, To-chan!" Akira sang, swinging with his son.

"Akira."

"Tou-san."

"Akira."

"Tou-san."

"Akira."

"Akira."

"Tou-san." Blue eyes widened at the red-head-man's grin.

Akira gave his son a tight hug, "My son." He declared proudly to the smiles of the family.

Currently, the group were only a few kilometres away from a village, the map long ripped to pieces by an over-eager bandit ambush and have been travelling blind on the sand dunes. They had encounters with spontaneous sandstorms, tornados and acidic rain during their earlier trek. Haruhi's pregnancy adding to the difficulty of it.

The first time Naruto heard the woman sing, he had stared unseeing at her, memories of hobbits singing to their children overlapping the present –it had left him disorientated and had left the woman with her husband with a whispered good night.

The second time Naruto heard her sing, the memories didn't come as strong as it did the first time, but, another memory had left him shaken, one, when he was the one singing to the babies under his care.

The third time Naruto heard her sing, Haruhi had stared straight at him, her eyes challenging him and he stood transfixed as she sang to him and her child. Once she was done, she had raised a brow and smiled, snapping the blonde child from his trance.

The fourth time Naruto heard her sing, he sat there with her, leaning on Akira's side as she massaged his scalp. Many times after, the three had a routine and continued with it. There were times when Haruhi was too tired to sing and he was prodded under her soft eyes. He glared at Akira then, but overtime, he had taken over her position as her strength left her during her last term and it was the same even in the present. On the sand dunes they lay, the desert sky bright and clear than in any other areas they had travelled through and the family huddled closely in one tent to keep the warmth in.

 _#The world is smaller,_

 _Seconds are longer._

 _Embraces reach farther,_

 _Hands hold harder._

 _Eyes are bigger,_

 _Clearer we see.#_

 _#That is how we find out what_

 _We are made of._

 _The hero in your heart,_

 _Can never leave your side.#_

 _#The hero in your heart,_

 _Can never leave your side._

 _Locked within right until that moment_

 _You give up._

 _The hero in your heart.#_

 _#Now, this is where you find out what_

 _You're made of._

 _The hero in your heart will never_

 _Leave your side._

 _Locked within right until that moment_

 _You give up._

 _The hero in your heart never leaves_

 _Your side.#_

 _#I bet you didn't know,_

 _The hero in your heart,_

 _Has strength beyond the known,_

 _And never leaves your side._

 _You're the hero in your heart.#_


	12. Inclusion Fill 2

Biting his lip to prevent the cry of pain, the child scrambled up the tree he had crashed into -barks digging into his skin. Hiding behind the leaves, blue eyes observed below at the lone figure fingering a slip of paper.

The sudden weight on his back had the child's grip on the branch slipping and he fell to the ground with a yelp.

The figure whirled around, eyes landing on the child a few meters away from him and to his partner behind it.

Quickly pushing his arms up, Naruto kicked his legs and swung them behind him, the resistance it had met had the obstacle falling to the ground. Scrambling further away from them, the blond observed the two in weariness. Grabbing a large rock, he threw it at the figure with the paper and ran deeper into the forest.

"Get back here!"

Slipping on the half-dried mud, the blonde skidded to a stop as a large rock formation blocked his path. Swivelling his head around, Naruto panicked and was slammed onto the rough surface.

A kick to his chest, a punch to his face and a blow to his head had the blonde stumbling in a daze. Turning to the opposite direction he had only a millisecond to redirect his steps and faltered, throwing himself to the side, the sharp sting from a slash to his thigh had the child tumbling to the ground.

From the corner of the blonde's vision, he saw the man wrap the slip of paper on the kunai, the smile vindictive as he aimed at the downed child. The female above the blonde held her tanto to her side, the tainted metal glinting with his blood.

The man threw the kunai wrapped paper to him, his finger in a seal as he began to activate it.

"Kai-"

"That. Is. MY. SON!"

With each word, a figure kicked the figure higher into the air and slammed the bandit to the ground, a kunai embedded in the bandit's neck had him choking on his blood.

"Wind: Great Breakthrough!" a man yelled as he finished his seals, his technique redirecting the direction of the kunai and ripped into the woman's stomach.

She dropped to the ground, breathing heavily.

A scream of the man's name had the figure gathering the injured child in his arms and rushing back to the origin of the voice.

"AKIRA!"

Sometime later in the day, a child of long, blonde hair shuffled his feet, eyes on the ground as the red-head man stared at him.

"What were you thinking?" he hissed, ignoring the family watching them.

"Haruhi-san was in pain-I thought-I thought, that I could take their atten-attention away," Naruto explained, arms wrapping around himself, as he blinked the tears away stubbornly.

"Well, you did," Akira stated with disdain.

The blonde child flinched.

"Dear-"

The redhead raised a finger at his wife's direction, his narrowed eyes silencing her.

"Do you know why I'm angry?" he asked his tone calm.

The blonde shook his head.

"Answer me." He ordered.

Shoulders shaking, the child let his tears fall, "N-no."

"I told you not to move. I told you not to reveal yourself. I. Told. You. To. STAY!"

Biting his lip, the child forced himself not to sob, feet shuffling back.

"You don't know how to fight properly. You're still a child, a young one at that and you will only be a distraction to the fight."

Haruhi gasped, "Dear, stop-"

"No." Akira snapped, eyes glaring holes at the child in front of him. "If he continues not to listen, there will be a time when one of us will get distracted and it will result in our death-bed. We can't continue to protect our precious people when we're dead, Haruhi. What use will I be? I won't be there to comfort him or you or be there for the birth of our child. He's a distraction."

A long silence filled the camp sight, shadowed eyes of the family avoided each other.

"Not apo'ging." The blonde child muttered softly, breaking the silence as he wiped away his tears.

Rubbing his face tiredly, the red-head heaved a long sigh, his shoulders dropping. The man knelt down and pulled the child to his chest, arms tightening at the struggling figure.

"Baka, son-of-mine." He puffed.

Peering at the Hamiko-Satoshi family's reaction, he stared blankly at them.

"He's mine." He declared to the amusement of his wife and grinned. A gleam appeared in the man's eyes as he directed his gaze to an ash-blonde man. "Oji-san, meet your great-grandnephew."

Roshino's mouth fell open, not even bothering to respond to his brother's snickers.

"At least I'm still a father and a grandpa." Joshiwa commented, dodging the punch from his twin.

"Great-granduncle, great-granduncle…" Anna sang around the twin's legs.

The wives laughed softly, eyes gentle as they watched the red-head man pick his son up and lift him to the air. The giggle emitted lightened the atmosphere.

"It's Tou-san, To-chan!" Akira sang, swinging with his son.

"Akira."

"Tou-san."

"Akira."

"Tou-san."

"Akira."

"Akira."

"Tou-san." Blue eyes widened at the red-head-man's grin.

Akira gave his son a tight hug, "My son." He declared proudly to the smiles of the family.


	13. Life and Death

**Yo! This is the last chapter of this prequel!**

Naruto gasped from the impact, the sand in the air inhaled and coughed it up. Rolling to the side, he grabbed at the ankle in line with his view through the sand-smoke and pulled it towards him. The figure above him gave a yelp and as he was down, the blonde stomped on the solar plexus, the strength accidently making his foot sink in the chest. Horrified, he took his foot away, the deep, red stain covering it from ankle down.

It was a whole different battle when one was fighting against ugly, ferocious beasts and against actual, living, breathing, humans that share the same colour as his. He had been desensitised with death, having encountered it more than is healthy to himself and the death count during the first few of many battles with the wargs.

The first time he had been with the wealthy man, his body moved without his conscious order and he had watched as he killed many, but, it was like watching a movie and it never registered that he had done it with his own hands.

Presently, the man with a hole in his chest, Naruto acknowledged as his first kill, the scene repeating itself over and over again, his eyes fixed on the blood-soaked foot.

A glint of the sun had snapped him from his trance and he turned to dodge, but, he was too slow and three poisoned stars hit him but missed their target. Shuddering from the impact, the blonde shuffled deeper in the sand-smoke, eyes watching the dark, blurry figure kneeling. Biting the inside of his lip he took the stars from him and threw at the figure, grimly watching as it hit its target. A lucky landing of two of the stars had embedded themselves in the neck of the corpse, the third just under the ribs. He breathed harshly from pain and watched as the purple-green bruising appeared and spread.

Glancing down, he removed his shirt and saw the first signs of the poison, the black markings on his stomach appearing in bold and contrast against his skin. The poison wasn't as fast as the one on the corpse –he could feel his chakra fighting the poison and winning. He grinned to himself-

A scream rang in the air.

Face paling, eyes wide, the blonde child rushed towards the origin of the voice, his body stumbling at the sudden burst of speed, vision tunnelling and he appeared in time to kick the wrist away, breaking the bone.

Three figures appeared in front of him, their faces blank and as he saw one make hand seals, the blonde's vision tunnelled and darkened at the edges as he slammed an open palm at the neck. Swinging his leg to the side, he knocked the blades away and flipped back. Bending back, he used his legs that were in the air to wrap around the waist of the man and used his momentum to flip the man until he landed with a resounded crack to his skull.

Twisting, he dodged the gleaming tanto aimed to his chest, the woman's eyes swirling in fury.

"How dare you!"

Blue eyes widened, the swiftness of the blade becoming faster in her fury and he knew he wouldn't be able to dodge all of them. He was right, the blade tore the first layer of his flesh, left should to his right hipbone, the scream of his name from behind him had him gritting in pain. The sudden kick to his torso sent him flying, and he coughed blood.

Lying spread-eagled on the sand-dunes the woman appeared seconds later, her tanto held proudly and vertically to his chest.

Blood trickled from his mouth, the glistening blade raised tainted with blood and at the sight, the blonde gritted his teeth and tensed.

As the blade descended, the woman's mouth condescending, Naruto rolled, scrambling to his feet and crying out as she redirected the direction of her blade to mirror the injury to his front to his back.

Collapsing on his side, he watched through the pain of tears, the dull ringing of his name and tried to summon up a glare to her.

She just laughed, her expression frozen as her head flew off of her shoulders.

Vision darkening, he heard Akira yell.

"HER WATER BROKE!"

It was the only thing he could think of doing, yell to the sky at his wife's condition. He had seen his little blonde adopted-son bleeding to his death and yelling was the only thing that could take his mind off the very high conclusion of the child.

Wincing, Akira gently squeezed her hand back and glanced down. Haruhi's eyes had locked on Naruto's form, her eyes in dark despair.

Together they froze in their positions and watched as the Suna ninjas gathered the blonde in their arms, their shouts stuck in their throats.

The journey to the hospital was a blur to the both of them, even as they ushered the entire family into one large room, healers rushing back and forth.

He watched the tears falling in everyone in his family sans Roshino, but his eyes were crinkled at the corners, the anguish in his eyes answer to his own.

Looking down at his beautiful, he saw, that even through their loss her eyes blazed with determination as every pain washed over her.

He didn't know how long he stood there like some statue, but he was very aware when the cries reached his ears.

Snapping to reality he saw the red, wrinkly baby in the hands of the healer telling them something, but his eyes were fixed on the new-born.

"Akira can hold him first."

The red-head snapped his head to his strong wife, her grieving, weary, happy smile sending a jolt to his throat. Nodding and sending his wobbly smile back he held the baby gently, letting the healer adjust his hold.

Looking down, he saw bright blue eyes staring at him and his tears fell as he rested his head on the small, frail chest he held.

"And what would the child's name be?" The healer asked, eyes gazing at the couple before him after he had left them for an hour or two.

Haruhi smiled, her eyes full of hope.

"Toruna Satoshi," she began, a gleam appearing in her eyes, "To-chan's name reversed."

He didn't know when his head would finally fly off from the frequent bout of it whipping around to stare at his wife, but he still snapped his head to her eyes.

"Why?" he choked.

Haruhi's eyes lowered to gaze lovingly at Jun.

"He was just as much a son to you as he was to me."

Every day, Haruhi would always remind him why he married her, and every day, he would be taken by surprise.

 ** _Peek a Boo into part 2:_**

 _Becoming at least adequate in deduction was a hard thing to do for a child like him; why did he want to do it again? It didn't matter, for what mattered to him currently was the large, cylinder, clear tube in front of him. How did a hunch come to this point anyways?_

 _The ground shook below his feet, his balance wobbling on the rough dirt as the sun was blocked by a heavy substance._

 _"Naru!"_

 _Turning his blonde head, the child watched wearily as two figures ran up to him, one small, the other an adult._

 _"RUN!"_

 _Blue eyes blinked slowly, his brain momentarily halting from the exclamation. It was only when his right foot sank suddenly into the ground that he began to sprint away from the facility. What did the woman say when in a tight situation?_

 _"Shi-"_

 _"Language!."_

 _Right._

 _"-mata."_

 _His friend turned to give him a long look and he returned one back. They really had no time to discuss moralities in their situation._

/\4*

 _The tall gates loomed over him, its presence enhanced by the bright moonlight above him. Hands clasped together shakily, as his shoulders shook with the suppressed emotions of staying silent with nature. It had been far too long since he had seen the gate, the smell of the healthy trees, their leaves rustling in the wind._

 _"We'll always be friends, right Naru?"_

 _Blue eyes softened at his companion holding the woman's hands tightly. "Always." It's not like he ever said he would stop, no matter how far in time or in the distance they were._

/\\*4

 _"Naruto?" the voice croaked, broken and tired of the weight of responsibilities resting on solitary shoulders._

 _He gave a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, hi..." Honestly, he had no idea what he was supposed to feel. Relief? Apprehension? Anticipation? Or Happiness? He'd been gone for so long, he'd have thought he was marked by now and thrown into prison._

 _He inwardly shrugged his shoulders, he had connections in places for release... but wouldn't it make him even more dangerous? He stared at the decorated wall in front of his eyes and cringed inside._

 _"Naruto!"_

 _The blonde wanted to pout, the figure yelled, his assumptions must be correct. He'd be thrown in jail before he could declare himself as the Kyuubi._

 _Actually, that was worse..._

 _The ground disappeared from his feet, and he closed his eyes for the verdict..._


End file.
